The Legend of Earth: The Wings of Light
by Tazaki4
Summary: Baiten Kaitos Universe. In a world where man dwells in the sky five outcasts will come together under the most unlikely of circumstances and attempt to piece together the past... and a future. Naru/Hina. Not a crossover. Just AU. M for blood. Enjoy.
1. Prologue

Hello all you Naruto fans

Hello all you Naruto fans! Glad to be back. My computer's virus is gone. I have access to fanfiction once again.

Life is good.

And so I'm bringing you another story.

Now, for everyone who got past the title and the summary, this is not your average crossover.

No characters or names of places are transferred so if you have never played Baiten Kaitos my story will NOT force you to either play it or read a wikipedia article. My story is basically going to contain similar themes and the world in general will be similar. Not really a crossover if you think of it.

It is a crossover for people who know Baiten Kaitos and an AU for those who haven't. I won't confuse you, and if I do you can call me on it and I will fix it.

Unless you are incorrect in which case I will laugh and point at you with much mirth.

Yes…

So here it is, the next big story from Tazaki4…

* * *

**The Legend of Earth: The Wings of Light**

Prologue

* * *

The was once a time when men roamed the earth freely

When water joined the land and the earth was one

In that time, nine demons ruled the world

Each as powerful and fearsome as hundreds of the strongest men

But none more so than the lord of the demons

The Kyuubi no Kitsune

With one lash of one of its nine tails the mountains fell and the oceans boiled

Yet even under their fearful rule

There was peace

But one day that all changed

A single man joined the nations of the earth together

As one they fought the demons

The man sealed each demon into holy shrines across the earth

With his eyes he took their place as leader of the world

Bringing the race of men into a golden age

But he missed one demon

The Great Kyuubi no Kitsune had remained free

With his anger and malice and power he cursed mankind

His tails lashed and broke the earth into pieces

Devastation poured out on the humans who had defied him

"No longer will man walk the earth"  
Said the demon

"It belongs to them no longer"

And as the demon cursed mankind, Kami changed it to a blessing

The curse was given not to men

But the earth

In his grace the Kami lifted the land and the remains of mankind

Into the sky

The earth was left barren and poison seeped from its crust

No human could live there again

Even as the great demon lord destroyed the earth

Mankind had risen above it

The Kami granted mankind the ability to live in sky

And that, my child, is why we have wings.

What happened next, you ask?

The demon himself

And the great man who fought him

Both disappeared into legend and myth

Never to be seen or heard of again…

* * *

The day began just like any other day in the forest. The mist filled the trees as the birds sang their songs. Peace and quiet. It was the way it should be. The sun shined through some sections of the dense foliage to send beams of light through the mist creating singular spots of beauty throughout the forest.

It was just an ordinary day.

Except for the three humans sprinting through the forest at top speed.

The first was a young woman, eighteen at the most, with hair of dark indigo coming down to below her shoulder blades. She was closely followed by two men, each much older than her and arrayed for battle. Thy followed her as fast as they could.

For what was chasing them all was right on their heels. They could hear the crashing of trees against trees as the monstrosity hunting them ran after them plowing through the forest like it was a road.

The young woman ran faster, sweat glistening on her brow. She was breathing hard. Too hard to continue like this for much longer.

She cringed as she ran by a branch that whipped by her cheek, giving her a small cut.

It was just her rotten luck. First she chose a camping spot in that damned cave. Then it turned out to be the home to that… thing. Then she ran through a spider web. And now the trees seem to be ganging up on her.

_Maybe I should have just stayed home…_

Before she noticed she had run into a large clearing and her two pursuers followed. They all stopped.

"Hinata-sama, run! We will hold it off!"

"Please, go…"

Hinata, for that was the girl's name, turned to see the two men behind her. The crashing was getting louder and she thought she saw the trees near the edge of the clearing shake.

"I can't just leave you…"

"You mu…"  
But the word never left his mouth. Time seemed to slow down as a massive horn pierced through his body. The man had just enough life in him to notice the gaping hole in his stomach filled with the sharp horn of he monster they had been trying to evade.

And scream.

The monster was out in the open now and Hinata got her first complete look at it. It had to stand ten meters high on its enormous front legs and shorter back legs. Its scaled chest looked as tough as any armor she had ever seen. The rest of its body was covered in grey short fur. Its massive head had two large horns coming out of the sides of it and curling around before coming to points over a meter in front of its massive mouth. Its legs were hoofed and muddy from tearing up the forest floor.

Her first guard hung suspended on its horn ten meters in the air, blood pouring down the horn and staining the fur on the monster's face.

It roared.

Her second guard charged, but was unprepared for the massive creature to move as quick as it did. Instead of cutting the beast's leg, the man found himself crushed to a bloody pulp under the massive hoof of the creature.

_No…_

The monster gave another roar, ready to charge.

Hinata was still partially in shock from her trusted guards and her friends being so brutally slaughtered. She didn't even comprehend the monster closing the gap between them, ready to gore her on its other horn.

_Is it the end?_

And then, for some reason, she found herself being pulled out of the way. Her body cleared the horns of the monster by mere inches as it was tackled forcibly to the side.

"Foolish girl! What are you doing here?"  
The words shot into her shock and pulled her out of it. The monster was turning around for another charge, roaring at the person who had gotten in its way.

Hinata only then seemed to notice that she was being shaking rather roughly by a young man who appeared about her age. Blonde hair spiked about his head without order and blue eyes peered at her with a mixture of worry and anger.

Mostly anger.

"Wha…what?"

"What the hell did you do to get that thing mad at you? Oh, never mind. Just stay out of my way."

"Who are you?"

Her question went unanswered as the monster once again charged. But this time the young man picked her up in his arms and jumped into a tree near the edge of the clearing, just out of the path of the monster.

"Just stay here."

She wasn't able to say anything else as the boy flickered away in a display of speed shouldn't have been possible without chakra.

_But… I don't see his.._

Her thoughts were interrupted by a small creature climbing up the tree she sat and taking a seat next to her. She could only stare at the small red fox kit as it peered intently at the clearing where the blonde haired boy stood. She couldn't think of any logical reason for it to be their, but she decided to leave it be as the blonde was approached by the monster.

* * *

The blonde in question was seriously pissed off.

_Damn stupid tourists! In one day they ruined the efforts of a two week hunt. Now I have to fight the damn thing and hope I kill it cleanly before it kills me._

"Ruined a perfectly good day…"

The monster had lost the corpse on his horn and was now preparing to kill him. The boy only smiled.

_At least I could use the practice. I haven't had a chance like this in months._

The blonde stuck his hands in his pockets before pulling them out with what appeared to be a claw on each finger.

The monster charged.

"WATCH OUT!"

The boy was almost too started to act by the cry that had obviously come from the girl he had saved.

_What? You'ld think she had some faith after I saved her ass twi…_

He didn't have time to finish his thought. The monster was approaching at top speed and due to his distraction it was all he could do to just jump out of the way of the horns of the beast. Even then, though, he was neatly kicked across the clearing, hitting the ground a few times, and finally through a few trees.

* * *

In her place in her tree Hinata gasped with her hand to her mouth.

She had just killed her savior.

She had seen the moment of distraction that hr shout had caused. He had been fast an obviously capable if he had decided to fight instead of run. And she had ruined it all by getting him killed.

Tears were starting to drip from her eyes.

_Is… is this all I do? Bring death to those around me who don't deserve it?_

Before she was able to do anything else the little fox gave a small 'mew' before hopping into her lap.

And that was when she felt it.

Chakra.

* * *

A red burst of energy came from the forest where the blonde lay bloody and broken. He had nearly been killed by that attack and it was surprising that he wasn't, but besides every rib in his body being crushed and his arm nearly torn off he was fine.

And then the chakra had come pouring out.

The blonde watch in apathy as his body knitted itself back together mostly, leaving the superficial wounds the only thing wrong with him. He stood up flexed his muscles. He head swam from the pain.

He might be fixed, but the pain would stay for a while yet.

He cringed as he readied his 'claws'.

And then charged.

The monster didn't know what hit it.

It only took a second for the blonde to jump while spinning completely over the monster, landing in front of it.

His claws were no longer attached to his fingers.

In the light it only appeared as if his hands, spread out as far as they could go, and his arms, crossed over his chest as he knelt on one knee only feet in front of the beasts head, held nothing.

Only the man himself could feel the tight wrappings of the monofilament wire around his hands, one attached to each of the claws now imbedded in the beast's hide.

And then…

He pulled.

It was probably the most gruesome thing Hinata had ever seen in her life, and yet the most captivating.

Instantly as the hands closed to fists and the arms came to his sides the monster dissected itself before her. The head came cleanly off in a painless and instantaneous death. The limbs of the beast were cut in half and separated from the main body as the main body was cut into strange pieces where the wire cut through the flesh and bone of the monster.

Only five seconds after the chakra burst, the monster was a pile of blood and meat. The blond boy deftly pulled a scroll from his pocket and opened it before performing some sort of sealing technique and sealing the head of the monster into it.

"Good."

It was all he could get out before the pain overwhelmed him and he passed out.

* * *

AN: I know this is a vague chapter in relation of the characters. But don't worry. It's the prologue for a reason.


	2. The Land of Water

* * *

Chapter 1: The Land of Water

* * *

_A sword protrudes from the chest of the man that was like a grandfather._

_Old man! The buildings are burning. His teacher and friend still stands, impaled on the wall of a building._

_Sensei…_

_Tears stream down his face as he uses all his skill to get away unseen._

_Then, a face appears…_

Naruto Uzumaki awoke instantly, bringing a hidden kunai out of his pocket and sweeping it up to the neck of the face above him.

And then lowered it.

_Not the same face…_

A wave of pain and nausea rushed over him and he was forced to immediately lie back down and close his eyes. His hands came up to rub his temples.

"Well, that was certainly unexpected."

Naruto winced as he opened one eye to look at the woman in the same room as he was. Midtwenties. Blonde. Very large breasts. She didn't seem phased by his attack and instantly had gone back to mixing some liquid. His surroundings he instantly took in. The room was mostly bare. The bed he laid in was ten times softer than any he had ever touched before, and was most likely the blonde woman's. A few plants were set near the windows, soaking in the sunlight of, he guessed, the late morning. He stopped his observations when the woman approached with a glass of vile looking fluid.

"Drink."

"No."

"Drink, or its going down the hard way. You might be the fastest healer I've ever seen, but my instinct says you have a bad case of nausea and headache. I'll get you some real food soon, so drink damn it."

Her speaking was just making his headache worse, so he grimaced as he grabbed the glass and downed it in one gulp.

It tasted exactly like it looked, nasty.

But it did its job. Moments later Naruto could sit up without feeling like passing out. He fully opened his eyes and swung his feet over the edge of the bed.

"Where did you think you're going?"

"Away from here."

"No, you aren't. I'm being paid quite well to be your personal doctor until you are completely healthy, and I never go back on a job."

Naruto tested his legs a bit by lightly bouncing on the balls of his feet. This woman was not going to keep him here. And if she thought she was getting paid…

Well, that just wasn't going to happen.

He would have been fine in another day anyway.

But before he could employ any of his speed his shoulder was grabbed by the woman.

And nearly crushed.

_Strong!_

She forced him to sit back on the bed.

"I said sit."

Naruto complied. Only someone with absolute chakra control could be that strong. Or he was weaker than he felt. This woman was probably a top rate chakra using doctor, of which there were very few. But looking around the room again he wondered why she was living in near poverty.

"My name is Tsunade. I'm a doctor. You were brought here yesterday afternoon by a beautiful young woman with serious lacerations all over your body. I was surprised you didn't bleed out. When she described your battle I stopped being surprised. You should be dead."

"Well, I'm not easy to kill."

"I know. When she left your side the first time I checked you more closely. Those marks on your cheeks…"

Naruto brushed his hand against them. What was this woman implying? They had been there since birth. Her eyes were filled with a mist that could only mean she was looking at her own past.

"… never mind. How is old Sarutobi doing?"  
The name shocked Naruto for almost a full second.

"What?"

"Sarutobi. I used to live in Konoha. I recognized you by the marks. You only just born when I left."

Naruto just stared at her, a mixture of confusion and anger burned into the doctor from those blue orbs. She got the hint.

"Oh… I offer my condolences. How long ago?"

"…Six years."

"Six years… damn."

Nothing more was said about it.

She gave him a small plate with an apple and a steak before leaving him to his own devices, but swearing that if he left the room she would put him back in bed if it took breaking both his legs several times.

He was surprised she knew it would take several times. Ever since he was born he had been a fast healer.

No, that was an understatement.

With barely any effort at all he could go from near death to mere flesh wounds in seconds.

But adrenalin was all that kept him going in such times. The pain of the injuries didn't go away as fast as the injuries themselves did. The pain was a reminder that he was mortal.

And the healing abilities were a reminder that he wasn't normal. They had forced him away from many villages, chased out for being a 'freak'.

Naruto finished his lunch before examining the room for anything of interest. A few dressers filled with women's clothing stood against one of the wooden walls. On one of them was a picture frame, the contents confirming her earlier claim to being from Konoha. A much younger doctor stood glaring at a white haired boy. Behind him stood a black haired boy with snake like eyes. And behind them all stood a much younger Hiruzen Sarutobi, Naruto's adopted grandfather.

He carefully and quickly turned the picture down on its face, hiding it from view.

His attention turned to the windows and the plants near them. The plants were obviously medical in nature. He took note that one of them was rather rare in this part of the sky. He glanced out the windows to see if he recognized the area.

He'd been here before.

Just in passing, but he'd stopped by here just before going on the hunt for that gigantic boar creature. It was a small quiet town with barely a few dozen people living in it. Surrounded by apple orchards and small amounts of pasture. Now, looking out, the apple trees had blossomed. It was beautiful.

Not that he noticed.

What he saw was his fox being chased around by that blue haired girl. And the fox seemed to enjoy it.

_Damn kit. Why does it follow me around, anyway? It just wants to play._

The girl seemed happy to oblige it, though. And despite the social stigma against foxes in general she seemed to be happily chasing the fox around trees and across the grassy terrain. He took his time observing the girl.

When he had seen her the day before he had instantly thought she must have been a tourist, but her actions seemed to change his mind. Only the wealthy had time or money to travel and she didn't seem like a prude at all, with the way she ran without a care for her appearance. He clothing, as well, was functional and simple. If she had actually done something against that beast he would have thought she was…

But she couldn't be. He was the last unless you counted the doctor, but she was at least eighteen years out of practice.

The girl had long dark blue hair that came half way down her back. She was fast, he could see she wasn't using full speed against the little fox. It was only when her face came into view that he noticed something about her.

Her eyes.

They had no pupil and were pure white.

_Interesting. Could they be a blood limit doujutsu?_

His gaze drifted slightly and he caught the look on her face as she ran around. Smiling and laughing. Not at all like the day before.

Just then the fox ran straight up a tall tree.

Naruto smirked. The fox was pretty smart, he knew. Sometimes he wondered if it could understand him. But then he shook it off as coincidence.

But, instead of giving up like anyone else, the girl did something he was not expecting.

Her wings came out.

Everyone alive in all of the elemental lands had wings. Not large wings, usually. Each about as long as two thirds of an arm. Each and everyone's wings were different then anyone else's. They were similar to a fingerprint in that way, except the variations were huge. They weren't capable of outright flight for any decent length of time, but Naruto had seen them used as speed boosts or even to cross gaps too large to normally jump. And even then, it wasn't easy. Some even used them in battle.

In actuality, they were the extensions of the human chakra network. Their mixture of physical and spiritual presence allowed them to appear through clothing, but still be attached to the body. Naruto knew people had studied the phenomena for years, and still the only explanation was that they were gifts from Kami. Only by focusing the natural chakra each human has could they become visible. Many people would need to focus for minutes to get their wings to appear.

Some took hours.

Someone with only superb chakra control could call them up instantly. Naruto had only seen people from his village do it that quickly, and it left the weaker ones gasping for breath.

And this girl had done it with almost no effort.

Her wings came forth in a small flash of light purple light. Each was lilac in color and shaped not unlike an elongated tear drop with the larger portion attached to her back. As the tear drop thinned out it curved down back towards itself. They were covered in designs that looked tattooed on, but on closer inspection appeared to glow. Swirls of glowing dark blue covered her wings, given them the appearance of having power flowing through them.

_Her chakra network is very advanced! Much more then even mine…_

Unknown to the girl, Naruto continued to watch as she ran straight up the tree trunk of the old oak tree over thirty feet with her wings pumping behind her before kicking off of it, finally catching the surprised fox in her arms carefully.

Naruto only stared from the window.

She had perfect control of her wings. No one took the time to do that. Technology and the many creatures of the sky made wings nearly obsolete. It was a well known fact that travel between lands was impossible by wing, even Naruto agreed. Very few people that he had heard of or seen, less than five, actually used their wings often enough for them to feel like they were a part of their body. This girl looked like she used them every day of her life. The coordination was…

"Beautiful…"  
From his place in the window he saw the little fox's ears perk up from its place in the girl's arms. It leaped from her arms and sprinted towards where Naruto assumed the door to the house was. The girl, he saw, was slightly reluctant to follow, biting her lip in a very cute way before following.

Naruto sat back down in his bed and was not disappointed when the door banged open and the fox ran in before hopping onto his head and nearly hiding in his tall and spiky hair. The doctor followed after it with a small watering can to water her herbs. The girl shyly followed. A change from the carefree girl in the window.

It was the doctor who spoke first.

"Well, kid. This is the girl who brought you in half dead and is paying for your healing, so say thanks."

Naruto stared at the girl, who had a cautious look on her face.

_She's worried about something._

And for the life of him, Naruto Uzumaki couldn't think of what she could be worried about.

"Gomen… for yelling at you while you were fighting that monster. If I hadn't..."

Oh. That was why.

_But… most people wouldn't have even noticed that hesitation. She is very… knowledgeable about battle. Or reads people very well._

_Or both._

To ease the girl's mind he decided to pull the old 'happy-go-lucky' persona out of his bag of tricks.

Instantly a smile appeared on his face large enough that he had to close his eyes.

"What? Yell? I didn't hear anything. I just got careless."

The girl only seemed a little more at ease from that comment, but he could see in her near pearlescent eyes that she didn't believe him.

_She's smart. Who is this girl? She's… a mystery._

"Still… thanks for the save. I don't know what came over me. I just couldn't move."

"Well, I was in the area." A little truth wouldn't hurt. "I was actually hunting that monster."

"I figured that when I saw you seal its head into your scroll."

_Knowledge about sealing? That puts her in a very, very small group._

"Yeah, well, I have to earn money somehow in the off season."

"Off season?"

"I'm a mercenary by trade. All the peace and quiet is bad for business."

"Ah…"

The girl was looking at him more intently then before, as if the information about him being a mercenary had intrigued her. Her eyes peered into him in a very strange way, and he wondered what she was thinking. He decided to break the silence. By now the doctor had left again.

"So… gomen…"

"Huh?"

"Those two guys you were with…"

"Oh. Before I carried you back here I buried them. They were my… guardians."

"Guardians?"

The girl didn't say any more. Naruto was getting more intrigued by the moment, and the girl wasn't helping things. After a small break in the conversation in which his fox pet gave a large yawn it was the girl who spoke.

"My name is Hinata. What's yours?"

"Uzumaki Naruto."

Instantly the blonde's eyes went bug eyed for an instant before going back to normal. How the hell did he let that slip out? Why in all the five nations did he give his real name? What if she had heard of the freak? What if 'they' were still looking for him? Years of training and hundreds of memorized aliases all gone to waste…

"That's a nice name."

The girl didn't seem to notice at least.

"Naruto… you wouldn't be interested in… a job, would you?"

Instantly Naruto was calm and business like.

"What kind of job?"

"I need someone… to take the place of my guardians. It would only be temporary, of course, but I would pay well…"

_Perfect._

"How well?"

"I… ano…"

"I won't take anything less then twice what you paid your previous guards combined."

The girl seemed to be shocked at that, but then smiled a little. Like she knew something he didn't, but not in a mean way.

"I… can't pay you less then that. They worked for free."

_Servitude? No, before they died they were extremely loyal. Family?_

"They were… distant relatives."

"That'll be fine, I want room and boarding charges paid for."

"O… k?"

"And a new set of clothing."

Naruto knew the proposition was completely unfair to himself, it was ludicrous to charge nothing but the cost of living for any job. This was one with an undefined length of time combined with an unknown duty. Protect her. From what? Why was he even doing this? Because…

_She intrigues me. Besides, if I don't like the job I could always just quit. And it's not like I have anything else to do once I deliver this trophy._

And he did need a new set of clothing. His current clothing was very worn, now especially from his recent meeting with a tree at high speed.

"Is… that all?"

"Hai."

The girl looked wary, as she should have been when offered something as pricy as a bodyguard for free. But little did she know that she had nothing to worry about.

"Alright, I agree."

"Interesting arrangement, Naruto and Hinata." The doctor walked back in a placed her hand on the blonde's chest. For an almost imperceptible moment her hand glowed blue. "And it looks like you'll be able to leave sooner then I thought. Good luck, whatever you do." She glanced one last time at Naruto before continuing. "And stay out of trouble."

* * *

A few hours later, after getting some food for the road, the three travelers set off down the road towards the capital of the nation. It would take a few days to hike the long canyon that the path ran through, so they were in no rush. The canyon was not very wide, with a small stream flowing through it. It was uphill most of the way, which gave them plenty of chances to stop and rest.

Neither knew that the other didn't need it.

_Who is Naruto? I saw him die… but now he's fine. And that chakra… why did his wings not come out?_

_This girl… what is with her? Perfect chakra control and… who is she?_

As they each wondered more about the person that they traveled with the talked about what they were going to do. With their pasts perfectly hidden, they conversed on the future.


	3. The Begining of Something

AN: Alright, the last chapter through a lot on to you, so I'll explain a little if anyone has questions. Basically the wings come out when someone focuses chakra, only people who are very capable with focusing chakra are capable of it. What does that make most humans in my story? Nothing much. What does it make Naruto, who has obviously used chakra, but not used wings? Won't tell.

* * *

Chapter 2: The Beginning of… Something…

* * *

"So… Kirigakure is the goal, or just one stop on the way?"

"I don't really know."

A pair of travelers walked slowly up a thin gorge, a small stream flowing down as they traveled up. One was a young man with blonde hair that looked like it had suffered an electric shock. He wore a new set of simple clothing, simple dark grey worker clothes that hung on his lanky frame loosely. He had a pack that carried the pair's equipment and gear, and despite the size of the pack seemed to handle it like it was as light as the much smaller pack carried by the female. The young woman had dark indigo hair that came down to her below her shoulders and was slightly shorter than the man. Her clothing was just as simple as the man's, but with the addition of a warm coat. And the addition of a small fox sitting on her head. She walked beside the man as they talked about nothing of importance. If someone had been watching the two, it would have seemed as if they were just travelers that had met on the road and had decided to walk in the company of each other.

That is what it would look like until someone decided to get in their way.

Naruto Uzumaki helped the woman only known as Hinata up a steep part of the ravine, which happened to be the fastest route between the small farming community that they had been at the day before and the capital city of the land of water.

He smiled at her with his largest grin to let her know he was just kidding.

"What do you mean, you don't know?"  
It was also a disarming tool, and often allowed him to get information that people would ordinarily not part with. But the woman seemed to also understand this as an understanding sparkle blinked in her pupilless eyes. She didn't seem to mind, though, and parted with the information in the most confusing way possible.

"Well, it might be as far as I need to go, or it could be just the beginning. It depends."

"On what?"

"On what we find."

"And what are we looking for?"

The woman sighed.

"Information."

"About what?"

"Do mercenaries always ask so many questions?" She flashed her own mischievous smile, letting him know she was just kidding, but Naruto knew already that she was just changing the subject and subtly telling him to lay off the questions. But he wasn't done yet.

"No, usually we are told what we're doing before we start doing it."

"Touché." She smiled again, a real smile. But her one word was more than that, it was an admittance that she knew they were in a verbal battle to find out about the other first. They were both waiting for the other to make a move. Neither would be the first to share their goals or past with the other.

"Thank you."

"But along the same lines, normally a mercenary is not hired when the employer knows nothing about him."

Damn, got him again. The woman was a master with words.

"You, at least, know my full name."

"How do I know it is your real name?" But he saw that she knew. She knew the moment he had reacted to his own giving of his name.

"I have no reason to lie."

"That is another thing I do not know."

Naruto sighed. There was no winning with this woman. Not only did she have near perfect chakra control that would put most people to shame, she was flawless in her speech. If only she fought as well as she battled with words.

They came up to a small pool with a small waterfall cascading into it. The path was a steep slope to the right of the pool, but a small flat area went off to the left around the pool all the way behind the waterfall. Naruto stooped to drink from it before filling his water bottle. When he lifted his head he noticed the position of the sun. The sun was nowhere in sight, blocked by the edges of the ravine, but the light that was reaching them was more orange than anything, signifying that it was nearly sundown.

"It's getting late."

Naruto sighed. She noticed as well. Did she even need him at all?

"Yeah. We aren't getting to Kirigakure tonight. And if I remember the ravine, this is probably the best place to stay tonight."

"Alright."

Naruto had a tent set up in minutes. The small fox ran around the camp ground, getting a quick drink of water and then running around again. It was kind of funny to watch the fox weave in between Naruto's legs as he ignored the fox completely and went about setting up the camp. Sadly, there was no wood in the ravine and they hadn't wanted to carry any in. Dinner would be cold. Unless…

Naruto smirked. It was high time he at least impressed the girl.

He had seen some unuks back along the path. The fire panthers were aggressive, but after a small burst of killing intent they had stayed away. He had survived off their meat while hunting that saber dragon. Tough, but not gamey. It would make a nice dinner… if cooked.

"I'm going to be right back, think you can survive for a few minutes alone?" She smiled at him in a way that said he didn't need to be so patronizing. He took that as a yes. The little fox was still running around the area, but as he walked away it found its way into Hinata's lap.

_Dumb fox…_

* * *

Hinata sighed. Her body guard was tiring her out more than helping her. He had almost gotten through her mental shielding with that smile.

That smile…

Hinata blushed. Then, with a shocked expression, lost the blush instantly.

_No. There is no way I was just thinking about him that way. No way in hell._

But there was something about him that intrigued her, no… drew her towards him. She wanted to trust him. She needed to trust somebody. But if he heard the truth… what would he do. No, she needed more information before placing her faith in the blonde mercenary.

The blonde, handsome, mercenary…

_Who should be dead, don't forget that._

The fox gave what sounded like a 'mew' in response to her scratching behind its ears.

"You know, you're master is a mystery."

She sat for a few more minutes with her back to the cliff where the waterfall was pouring from. It cascaded in front of her and mesmerized her a few moments. The droplets sparkled like diamonds… like snowflakes…

She shook her head to clear it of her thoughts. With a sigh she stood again.

"Now what…"

"Eat dinner, that's what."

Hinata spun to see that Naruto had managed to come within ten feet of her as she had stared at the water with a beast his own size across his shoulders. It was obviously dead, missing its head and having bled out.

"Huh? How are you going to cook it?"

Naruto had taken it a fair distance from their camp near the back of the waterfall and began to clean the corpse and put the best meat on some of his larger blades. Every once and a while he would take a small piece of the meat and toss it to the fox, who would catch it in the air before devouring it. Hinata just had to laugh at it.

"Well, first you clean it, then you use a little something I like to call fire."  
Hinata snorted, he just had to make her laugh with his simplicity.

"We have nothing to make a fire."

"No, you have nothing to make a fire."

"You didn't pack wood, I watched you pack."

"Wood is just one thing that can burn, not the only thing."

"Your going to burn your clothing just to eat a hot meal?"  
Naruto's face suddenly went dark for a moment and he froze in his actions, but it was only for an instant before he began again, making Hinata think she had imagined it, but knowing she hadn't. His smile reappeared.

"No. Something else…"

Hinata sighed. There was no getting anything out of the man.

Before long they were both back at the camp that they had set up with enough meat for a decent dinner, leaving the rest of the meat for the unuks to finish off or the doomers to consume. The head shaped floating fire elementals had stayed away from them all day, which wasn't that unheard of. They were only interested in easily consumed things, not humans.

He had two small swords with meat on them that were stuck hilt first into the ground and Naruto himself was standing a few meters away. If Hinata hadn't known it was impossible she would have though he was going to…

Breathe fire.

* * *

"Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu!"

Hinata stared with her eyes wide open as two balls of flame emitted from the blondes mouth and engulfed the meat for almost a minute. When the fire died out suddenly it left a charred black piece of meat behind.

"They're burned…"

Naruto smiled at her stunned reaction before wrapping his hands in cloth and picking up one of the swords and grabbing it by the hilt that was still cool. He lightly tapped the charred surface of the meat and Hinata watched in awe as the black crumbled away to leave a piece of perfectly cooked meat.

"The unuks are known to have a high body fat content, it keeps their interior flames burning better, and the flash cooking method chars the fat on the outside of the meat, not allowing the burning to reach the actual meat inside."

He tore a piece of meat of the skewer and dropped it into her hands. She tossed it around a bit, being that it was hot, but eventually got the nerve to taste it.

It was definitely not burned. Tough. But not bad.

Now, about the fire…

"Naruto, this is really good."

He smiled that smile at her before handing the sword to her and grabbing the other for himself.

"But… how did you do that?"

"I just told you, it has to do with the fat content…"

"You know what I mean."

Naruto stopped in mid bite. All formality and playing around were out the window. After a whole day of skirting around the others personal aspects, she had finally brought out an ultimatum.

Instead of continuing his act, he decided that if he truly was going to work for the girl and intended to get any information out of her, he needed to comply now. Another day of verbal warfare would tire him beyond belief.

"It was a jutsu, Hosenka no Jutsu to be specific."

"I know what it is called, you called it that right before you did it. What _is_ it?"

Naruto sighed. He really didn't want to go into this at all. Ever. But something about this girl…

"I can trust you, right?"  
The question seemed to shock her. It was as if she herself had never thought that he might not trust her. It was all about her not trusting him to her. He noticed she stared him right in the eyes for a moment before replying.

"Hai."

Naruto was satisfied. He had always been able to read her before, and now was no different. She meant it.

"A jutsu is a technique passed down by the members of the village I came from. There are many, many different kinds of jutsu, but they basically boil down to being focused chakra."  
Hinata didn't move at his reply. She stared at him still, unnerving him a little. Those eyes were haunting.

"Then why did your wings not appear."

Naruto stared at her with something akin to shock on it. Out of all the questions she could have asked, why that one? But he found himself answering her. It was a blunt, precise and true answer.

"I don't have wings."

* * *

"Boss! Boss!"

A small mouse of a man ran through the sunset lit woods at the mouth of the ravine closest to the city of Kirigakure. He was panting hen he reached a run down abandoned inn far of the beaten path. He pushed open the doors instantly.

"Boss!"  
The man was almost instantly thrown into the wall from a wicked backhand that split the man's lip and left him dazed.

"I heard you all the way from the road, you idiot! You interrupted my… fun."  
A large shadow was cast over the small man as he lay on the floor.

"But… but boss…"

"SILENCE!"

The small man curled up in a vain attempt to protect himself. He soon found his neck in the grasp of a hand the size of his head.

"I should kill you now."

"But… the… there… travelers… water… fall…"  
The man's words ended abruptly as his neck snapped. The hand tossed the body off to the side.

"Thanks for the information, bastard. Men!"

Instantly the men that had surrounded the inside of the inn, that had been waiting in silence as their fellow was killed, stood.

"It appears that we have some poor helpless travelers to… help. Their purses are probably too heavy for them to carry all the way to Kiri. We must lighten their load. And, come to think of it, removing the weight on their shoulders wouldn't hurt either. HAHAHAHA…"

No one laughed with the monster of a man.

"Let's go."

* * *

"What do you mean? Everyone has wings…"

"Well, I don't. Never had them, and I never will."

"But…"

"I don't know, ok! No one ever told me why I don't have wings! They never said why I don't have parents! They never even told me why I had to stay inside the village at all costs! And then they all died when the damn military decided that our village was too strong and needed to be neutralized! You want an answer? Well tell me when you find one, 'cause I'm dieing to hear one myself!"

Silence. The girl stared at him with something like horror on her face as Naruto realized what an idiot he had just been. Yelling all his anger and confusion at a girl who shouldn't be involved. The pain of those times was long buried. The girl likely thought he was either dangerous or a freak now.

"That's… horrible."

Naruto pulled his head out of his hands. What had she said?

"That's the worst thing I've ever heard… the military did that? Why?"

"I… don't know."

"Those… those…"

"Bastards?"

"Hai! B… bastards!"

Naruto snickered a little. Seeing the girl all worked up and obviously shy about cursing. She probably had never called anyone a bastard in her life before. She wasn't half bad, for a civilian. He stuck his hand out to her, where it interrupted her righteous anger for his sake.

"Uzumaki Naruto. I'm 18, love ramen, and am a wingless ninja freak who happens to know a lot about fighting and not much else."

She looked at him for a second before offering her most real smile to that point and taking his hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Naruto-san. I'm…" She faltered for a moment.

"Hyuga Hinata. I'm 17, love the outdoors, and happen to…"

"Attack!"

Both of them looked up in surprise to find a large group of maybe thirty men at the top of the waterfall. About three quarters were running around the slope to come at them with swords, spears, and various other weapons. The rest notched arrows to bows.

"Go!"

Naruto pushed Hinata out of the way as about six arrows shot towards them. They were all off in aim, but one managed to nick Naruto on the cheek. Hinata was already on her feet by the time Naruto had time to spin around and throw two knifes at the archers, piercing their necks and killing them.

"Naruto…"

"Stay back, get under the waterfall."

"Naru…"

Before she could say anything more the other bandits were upon them. Naruto didn't have time to pull out his wires. He dodged the first sword swing.

_Amateurs. _

He gave the unfortunate swordsman a palm strike to his chin that hit so hard it broke the man's neck. Naruto quickly spun around the tip of a spear and elbowed a man so hard he felt the man's rib cage shatter and the man flew into the water too stunned to not drown. Naruto pulled a small dagger from his hostler in his sleeve and gutted another man that was in the middle of swinging an ax at his head. He caught the ax as it fell from the man's hands and threw it into another's chest.

Naruto was actually starting to enjoy himself. It had been a long time since he had been able to fight humans. These guys were stress relief…

_Where is Hinata?_

Naruto was suddenly distracted. Hinata wasn't where she should be, on the far side of the waterfall. His distraction almost cost him his life as a large man swung a katana ready to disembowel him. He was about to jump it when it, and the man that was holding it, he blown back in a small burst of blue.

Standing where the man had been was Hinata, her palm out as if it had just struck the man and her wings sticking out of her back like an angel of death. Her eyes looked much more intense now, and the veins around them were more pronounced.

_What the hell?_

"I was about to say, Naruto, I am fully capable of fighting bandits."

She spun around, and slapped a spear tip away with her glowing hand before merely tapping his forehead. The man's eyes went blank as he died instantly.

Naruto was brought out of his shock by an arrow passing inches from his face. Almost subconsciously he drew a hand full of his small throwing knifes and tossed them at the archers, ending them all in one throw. A club wielder was coming towards Hinata's back as she fought two more swordsmen with her hands. Naruto was about to warn her when she reached up and, without looking, grabbed the club coming down on her and swung it over her head. The man was too surprised to let go and found himself impaled on the swords of the two men that were in front of Hinata. With their swords occupied in the body of their comrade Hinata took them down in a similar manner to the other man she had tapped. Naruto didn't understand it, but she was obviously capable to handle herself, so he went back to his own fights. He always had an eye on Hinata now, but now he was fighting as well. His dagger cut another throat as Hinata's hand blew another persons life away with the blue energy that faded quickly after she struck. Naruto quickly jumped back from three men about to take swings at him. Before they had the chance to bring their weapons back into ready stances Naruto had charged up what looked like a blue swirling ball in his hand.

"Rasengan!" Hinata glanced his way as he shoved the ball into one of the men's chests.

The result was instantaneous.

The man and every man behind and near him were thrown back and into the ravine wall at enough speed to crack the solid rock wall. Most died instantly on impact. The ones that weren't were killed very soon after by the small rock slide that covered them and the side of the ravine. Naruto spun to quickly see if he had missed anyone, but saw no one but the dead bodies and Hinata. He had his back to the cliff when he heard Hinata yell his name. He felt the killing intent before the man even landed.

Naruto rolled out of the way and jumped back in order to see the last enemy. He was shocked by the size of the man. He was probably seven foot tall at least and had more muscles on his chest than Naruto thought should exist in a normal human body.

Luckily, it was just a man.

Then Naruto saw his wings come out.

The mans wings were orange, not the color one would expect from a bandit, but they looked like oversized bat wings. Chakra immediately began flowing through the area, increasing the killing intent greatly.

"I'm surprised you took down my men so quickly… boy. But you weren't fast enough to stop me from unleashing my chakra. Now… it is time for you to die. Then I'll take the little girl and teach her how I 'punish' fighting back…"

Now, if there was one thing in the world that Naruto hated as much as the people who had slaughtered his village, it was people who disrespected women. And rapists… they were the worst.

So when Naruto interrupted the man's rant about how he was going to kill Naruto and rape Hinata with a punch that pushed the man into the cliff wall almost an inch, it wasn't surprising to Naruto.

I was just Hinata and the bandit king.

Naruto stuck his hands into his pockets as the man shook off his shock. He only needed two…

"You know, bastard. I hate people like you." The man had pulled himself from the wall and flexed his muscles. The man seemed to get bigger as his wings extended a little. Naruto knew his type. He knew just enough about chakra to use it to increase his muscle strength. Probably never taught his underlings out of fear that one might get better than him at it.

"If it makes you feel any better, I hate you as well. And everyone else like you. Anyone who would treat a woman that way."

Naruto new a rasengan would be easier, but it wouldn't satisfy him as much as this would.

The man charged him with speed that defied his size. But he was outclassed horribly. Naruto charged him as well. With a flick of his wrists his hands were out of his pockets and two claws shot around the man's knees.

"Wha…"

The man only had time to realize his mistake, but not time to stop it, as his own momentum cut his legs off at the knees. He slid to a stop missing his lower legs as blood poured from his wounds. His wings disappeared.

"You had no chance, bastard." Naruto grabbed the man, still larger then him even without his lower legs, by the neck and held him in the air.

The man couldn't speak.

Naruto sneered at him with disgust before turning to a shocked Hinata.

"I'll be right back."

Naruto ran back down the path, not caring for the man as he dragged him along. The man had finally started to scream, even when he would bleed out in minutes.

Naruto reached a small stone bridge over the stream. On the other side a group of unuks were pacing, angry at having lost one of their own to Naruto before.

"Well, looks like I took one of your friends. Here's a little compensation."

And with that, Naruto threw the still living body to the panthers.

He turned around and started walking back, the screams of his enemy bouncing off the ravine's sides and echoing into the early night as the sun finally set.


	4. To Find and Not Be Found

AN: I got a few reviews saying how gruesome that fight was, especially the ending. But, as I replied to some of you, Naruto has some anger issues. You would too, if you happened to have every person you knew and loved slaughtered for no reason. Or was there a reason? And is it the reason I'm going to lead you to believe it is?

Hm…

* * *

Chapter 3: To Find and not be Found

* * *

Naruto had returned to camp to find Hinata leaning against the cliff wall behind the waterfall. The bodies had mostly been moved away from the camp, but neither Hinata nor the fox in her lap, which had suddenly appeared when the fight had been done, looked like they were going to do anything more. As much as Naruto wanted to let them rest, he needed some answers.

Now.

"Hinata-san."

She glanced up from the fox she was stroking into his eyes. The veins around them had receded, and their intensity had gone back to the normal level. Her wings were also gone, but that was to be expected.

"I've told you a lot about myself, now I think you need to tell me something as well."

The indigo haired girl looked down again and nodded. She was still covered in blood, probably from Naruto's own fighting. Her style had been cleaner, at least on the outside. Naruto had a feeling that if he opened up one of those men's heads he wouldn't find a normal brain anymore.

"You fight better than almost anyone I have seen."

"I had training…"

"I gathered that. You also seemed to, at multiple times in that fight, to have eyes in the back of your head. I assume it has something to do with their color and the veins around them."

"…"

She didn't look up, but he could tell by the way she moved he hand to stroke the fox that she was struggling with something.

"Is it a Kekkei Genkai?"

She looked up then, startled. Shocked that he even knew the name. He had to frown for a moment. Everyone knew that Kekkei Genkai were both rare and desired. At one time in history people had feared them so much that they went on massive hunts to slaughter everyone with 'tainted blood'. In modern times it was incredibly rare to find someone with a Kekkei Genkai outside of the military and not being used as lab rats.

"N… no…"

"I'm not going to tell anyone, Hinata-san. I have insane healing powers, remember? I always figured it was a latent blood limit. I'm not going to sell you to the highest bidder, who would feed me then?"

He tried to lighten the mood a little, but it failed horribly. She looked like someone had tried it before…

"It's the Byakugan."

Naruto stared at her. He'd never heard of it in all of his studies, and he came from a ninja village.

"It allows me to see chakra networks and nearly completely around myself. I can even see through normal walls."

"Sounds… useful."

"Because I can see it, it allows me to have precise control over my chakra, where it goes, I mean. When I fight I use chakra to destroy the chakra networks of others."

_Ah, so that was why they died._

"Well, as I said, I'm impartial to Kekkei Genkai, so don't worry about it. I was impressed by your fighting…"

"I hate fighting…"

"I gathered that as well. But you don't seem to have battle shock…"

"I've killed before."

"For someone who doesn't like to fight, you do it beautifully."

She just looked at the fox she was petting. He thought he caught a light blush on her cheeks, but couldn't be sure. Naruto turned and sat down next to her.

"So… you want to tell me why you need a bodyguard. I think you could have easily handled that fight. Maybe even that saber dragon in the forest if you weren't shocked from the deaths of your guards."

"I do."

"From what?"

"From… people who might stand between me and the truth."

"And what is the truth?"

"I don't know yet."

Naruto sighed.

"Listen, we aren't going to be an effective team if I don't know what we're supposed to be doing. I can't help if you don't let me."

"I don't want you in on this…"

"In on what?"

"Listen, if you know anything then it will just be harder if we get caught…"

"Caught by whom? The military?"

No reply. Naruto slumped back against the wall.

"Kami… your going against the military, that's why you need my help…"

"The less you know, the less chance that… well…"

"Hinata-san, in case you've forgotten exactly who I am and what I've told of your past, let me rephrase it. I hate those bastards with all my being. If you get caught, it will be because they killed me, there is no other way to get to you. Not anymore. Now tell me what you want. Why are you going up against the strongest group in the world?"

"I… you'll think I'm crazy…"

"I'm crazy, Hinata-san. You are a mystery, but not crazy."

"I… I had a vision."

_Ok, maybe she is crazy…_

"O…K?"

"See? You think I'm crazy!"

She was standing now, the kit jumping out of her lap. She looked furious.

_She really believes she had a vision. I might as well hear this out…_

"Yeah, you might be crazy…" She turned around, about to leave for who knows where. "… but, let's say you weren't. What was this vision?"

She didn't turn around.

"I saw… I saw the world… the lands floating like tiny specks in the sky… the sky was blue and there was peace…" She clenched her fists. "Then a man came from the land of fire. His hands engulfed the world, sheltering it for a moment, but then it became obvious it wasn't protectiveness, but possessiveness that drove him. He used something… evil… to bring fire to the other lands, each soon falling into his shadow…"

She turned around with tears in her eyes.

"I know what I saw was true! That man… he exists! I had never seen him before that vision, but when I left my home to see if it was true… I saw him. In Kirigakure. I was working as a maid in the lord's mansion to see if I could find any information, true or false, about my vision. He was meeting with the lord of this land. The man from my vision is the lord of the fire nation, and the general of the imperial military."

"What?"

"I know it was him! He even gave off the same evil aura as the man from my vision, even if it was being contained by the man! So… I stole something from him. I stole a small amulet that was important to him. He said it was used to look for something… I didn't know what but it was important! I hid it in the lord's mansion in a place no one would ever find… but I was forced to leave soon after when they started a search and fired all the hired help. It's still there, and I need to get it before that man!"

"And if you are spotted in the lord's mansion again…"

"I'll be suspected."

"And killed."

"Hai."

The two stood feet apart staring into each other's eyes. Naruto, for the first time in his life, couldn't believe his eyes. Hyuga Hinata was telling the absolute truth. Now, whether she was insane or not… she was an incredible person to go to such lengths just for the odd chance that someone might be trying to control the five elemental nations.

"You really want to risk going against the imperial military, the very organization that had only one special ops force destroy my entire village, a village filled with ninja more powerful than me? You're insane. You're insane and the weirdest person I have ever met."

The girl looked like she was about cry. Naruto couldn't keep a straight face anymore.

"Just the kind of person I like."

"Wha… what?"

"You heard me. I'm in."

She just stared at him with those lilac eyes. She couldn't comprehend it.

"You're… not going to quit?"

"I already said I couldn't quit. Who would feed me?"

The girl seemed about to mention that it had been him that fed her that night, but stopped. She smiled, tears of happiness in her eyes.

"You believe me?"

"… No."

Instant depression.

"But I'm an open minded man, or I like to think I am. Who knows, maybe your vision is real. I'll just stay around until I find out, one way or the other."

She smiled again. This girl was an emotional hurricane, up and down and up and down and up…

But that could have been that she had just killed a half dozen men.

"Now, get some sleep. I'll take watch."

"You need to sleep also…"

"Foxy will take second watch. He can be quite loud when he wants to be."

Hinata walked to the small tent and stepped half way in before turning around again.

"You know, you're the first one I've told about my vision besides my family. I'm… I'm glad that you're with me."

And with a blush that Naruto could see even in the early night darkness, she disappeared into the tent.

Naruto just stood where he was, listening to the waterfall through his own stunned silence.

It had been the first time someone had appreciated his presence since the fall of Konoha.

* * *

The next morning came and while it was still mostly dark in the canyon they were packed and ready to go when it the first rays of light shone on the west wall of the ravine. The second day of the trip was much like the first if you viewed it from a far. Two humans and one fox enjoying a nice day in early spring on their way to the capital of the land. But things had changed between the pair. They talked a lot more, for one. This time they let some things be said that actually mattered. Hinata had a large family including a sister. He mother had passed away in her childhood. She enjoyed sweet things.

Naruto filed all the information on her he could into his mind.

_Who knows how important it could be later to know that her favorite color is lilac?_

There was at least one very small and unused portion of his brain that realized exactly how this could be useful, and why he was so attentive to the lithe purple haired girl.

But he chose not to hear it.

Hinata also learned many things about her new bodyguard, one of the few people in the world who knew her secret.

Naruto liked ramen. She had lost count of the times he had reiterated it. He didn't know why a fox followed him everywhere, but figured it had something to do with the fact he was always cooking something a fox might like to eat. His marks on his cheeks were natural, or so he was told as a child. He was trained to be an elite ninja from birth, one of the previous Fire Lord's elite troops. When the new Fire Lord had taken over by force, Konoha had sent a simple letter saying they disagreed with the hostile takeover and would not recognize the new lord.

They were killed soon after.

Hinata had trouble believing a village of people the strength of Naruto could be slaughtered so easily, but he assured her it was true.

And she believed him.

She seemed to have an easy time believing everything she said.

Whether that was because of her uncanny ability to read others or just the fact that she just really wanted to believe the blonde man beside her, she couldn't tell herself.

Neither saw that they were getting too involved in their traveling companion.

They were just 'information gathering'.

They were just opening themselves up, both equally afraid of being hurt, but thinking that this time it might be worth that risk.

* * *

They arrived at the city of Kirigakure near the end of the day, having had taken their time. Both had been to the capital before, so it really wasn't anything new to either of them. But to someone who had never been there before the view could only have been called incredible.

The city was built on the far eastern edge of the Land of Water. And the word 'edge' is taken quite literally. The slope of the ground curved up, creating a rather odd phenomenon where the highest point in the city was actually on the edge of the sky. A half hill with only the uphill side.

The downhill side was a quick trip to the poison mists.

The city was built with a few main roads leading from the cities gates all the way to the large building at the top of the hill, the lord of Water's house. The roads were lined with small shops, houses, and a large amount of people.

A normal town if it weren't for one specific thing.

The village hidden in the mist is nearly perpetually hidden in the mist.

Literally.

All over the city clouds float, some blocking entire portions of the roads. Every so often an enormous cloud will cover the entire city. To someone far away it would look like there was no city, only a sheet of cloud. But the people inside the cloud were in a perpetual fog. A street might seem perfectly clear one moment and if it is a windy day a person could walk five feet from their door an find themselves lost in a cloud an instant later.

It made things very interesting.

And beautiful.

Especially now, at sunset.

The rays of the setting sun shone through the clouds creating the illusion of hundreds of small orange clouds decorating the city like it was a festival. The clouds dispersed the light and caused the entire city to glow like a candle in the evening.

"Wow…"

"Yeah…"

Needless to say, neither Naruto nor Hinata had ever seen the city like that.

* * *

"Naruto…"

"Shh…"

"Naruto, we don't need to sneak through the front gates."

"Quiet."

Naruto and Hinata were outside one of the many gates leading into the city. Hinata had insisted that they wouldn't be looking for her and no one knew her personally so there was no recognition. There was no reason to sneak in.

Naruto wasn't so sure.

He ducked away from the wall to speak with Hinata. They backed away to nearly a half mile away from the walls before he started talking.

"Hinata, what is that in the sky at the dock of the lord's mansion?"  
Hinata looked up to the highest point in the city. The enormous building that put all the others to shame in both size and extravagance was easy to pick out. A cloud passed over the top of the mansion, blocking her view momentarily. It blew away quickly, though, and the thing at the docking area on the opposite side of the tower came into clear view.

And Hinata realized why Naruto was cautious.

"The _Hokage_…"

A massive bloated vessel marred the sky with its presence. It was easily the size of the entire lord's mansion in length. The prow was coated in a heavy metal shield that was built to be able to completely absorb ramming through smaller vessels. The sides, top, and bottom all bristled with cannons. The front had the two largest cannons in the world while the back was reserved for loading and offloading troops. All over the hull were numerous propellers and turbines, each aiding in keeping the ship aloft. This was the pride of the Imperial Army, the largest battleship and the flagship of its armada, the _Hokage_. The top scientists in the world had built the monstrosity. It had enough cannons on it to level the city of Kirigakure to dust. It was capable of carrying over fifty Beetle class IV tanks and over two thousand troops.

And it was the official transport of the Fire Lord.

"Right, the _Hokage_."

Hinata shivered involuntarily.

"What… what do we do?"

"We go in, but quietly."

"But…"

"Don't worry, I got this. The guards won't even notice us."

It was common knowledge that if someone tried to go over the walls of any of the major cities in the world that alarms would start blaring immediately, warning everyone of an intruder. Gone were the times of freedom to travel where one pleased. Each person had papers by law that allowed them to travel. And allowed the nation's lords to keep close eye on who was in their cities.

When they arrived back at the gate Naruto motioned for her to stop, the fox followed his command as well. He crept closer, just close enough to hear what the guards were saying…

"Well, I can't say this is the worst time to be guarding the gates, eh Pike?"

"You got that right, Allan. Those damned soldiers from fire… taking over the barracks like they owned it. And even the Lord's mansion is housing a few dozen of the bastards! How dare they disrespect the Lord of Water like that?"

"I don't get it. The Lord of Fire comes here from out of nowhere, signs a treaty, and leaves. All in the period of two days. Then a few weeks later these bastards show up, acting like they own the place, interrogating the guards and everyone…"

"Even the maids! My wife quit her new job there after nearly being raped while they questioned her. If it wasn't for the captain, she might have been…"

"Those bastards. Their commander can't even keep them in line. Or chooses not to. That snake bastard…"  
_Snake bastard?_

"I don't care if he is the leader of their 'special forces', this Orochimaru better sleep with his eyes open after the enemies he's made he…"

Naruto suddenly popped out from behind the tree he had been hiding behind. But not as himself at all.

Instead of an average height, blonde, and slightly thin man he appeared to be a very tall, very thin, and very creepy looking man with pale skin.

Instantly both of the guards stiffened.

"What was that I hear about me needing to watch out?"

"Lord Orochimaru!"

Naruto strode up to the men before stopping inches from the first ones face.

"I asked you a question, Sergeant Pike. Are you going to answer or will I have my men find where you live and interrogate your wife again…"

Naruto knew he had accomplished his goal when the man drew his sword and swung as fast and hard as he could at his neck. But Naruto merely ducked before punching the man in the gut hard enough to knock him unconscious, and the other man quickly followed his friend on his way to dream land.

Naruto whispered a small 'kai' before once again appearing as Naruto. He motioned to where he knew Hinata had been watching from and she soon was by his side.

"Naruto?"

"They won't report this, they attacked a high ranking officer in the imperial army."

"Who was that? How did you know…"

"No time, hurry. Let's find a place to sleep.

Stepping over the two bodies the duo plus the fox kit hurried into a near deserted town, as night was quickly falling. After a few minutes of walking the road they had been on they found a sign for a hotel. It seemed to be just a large house, but they would take anything to have a place to sleep away from prying eyes.

They walked out of the place nearly thirty seconds after entering it, both blushing profusely.

"Ano…"

"I… really didn't think he would say something like that…"

"I… uh… yeah."

There had only been one room available, with only one bed. The man had obviously not wanted their business, because he mentioned that the 'honeymoon suite' was occupied, but the kind of hotel they were looking for could be found on the other side of town.

Naruto silently vowed to decapitate that man if he saw him alone in a forest.

Hinata couldn't think straight due to all the blood rushing to her face.

They continued walking for a bit more before finding a heartwarming sight. A small child was sitting on the steps of a house and staring at the clouds. Behind his back the house looked well lit in the night and they could hear the sounds of a family enjoying themselves before it was time to sleep. Before they knew it the child had been called back inside, where he went with a smile, before the door was shut behind him.

"That was…"

"Cute."

Hinata and Naruto both knew that it hadn't been just cute. One of them had just seen a life he had never had, the other was remembering her previous life at her home.

The street lights were being lit by the lamplighters as they continued their search for a place to stay. At least once or twice Naruto had pulled Hinata into a dark alley just as a group of soldiers appeared around a corner. Needless to say, the first time this had happened both had been rather embarrassed by the close quarters. Naruto had been nearly hiding Hinata's body with his own and they were so close together that Naruto's chin was resting on her head. Neither had thought anything about it until the group of soldiers had passed and they turned to face each other only to find themselves only inches apart.

You could tell they were strong by the speed they flew away from each other.

But, eventually they came to a small inn that allowed them to have the rooftop as their camp. It was not the ideal area, being the clouds combined with the possible sighting from people higher in the city, but when they got up to the roof and found it flat and walled in with the walls covered in all kinds of flowers they agreed. They were provided with mattresses and pallets which they placed as close to the wall as possible, getting covered from sight by the plants and the wall.

Almost as soon as they had gotten set up a cloud had passed over them, making visibility next to zero. With very short 'good night's, and a long awkward silence they were once again asleep.

Neither knowing what they were about to get into.

AN: Haha. I put in an oc. Kinda. But seriously, I don't do many ocs.


	5. The Great Konohamaru

Chapter 4: The Great Konohamaru

* * *

Naruto stood in the predawn darkness observing the gates of the Lord of Water's mansion from afar. He had woken earlier than usual to find himself and everything he owned completely and absolutely soaked. The clouds that had not woken him as they had passed over had soaked him to the bone. Only the things sealed in his scrolls had remained dry.

So here he lay, soaking and shivering in the cool of the early morning, looking at a guarded door he could only call impenetrable. Completely and absolutely impenetrable.

A unit of guards, at least twelve, stood outside the small door in the confining walled road leading up to it. The door itself was strategic in it size, making it easy to guard and difficult for large groups to enter all at once. Also, it made it incredibly easy to guard. It Naruto guessed right, he would say the room beyond was probably a huge entrance hall perfect for housing large numbers of men that could defend such a small door for years.

That wasn't really the problem for Naruto, though. He knew he could fight off the lord's guards easily if needed and enter the door. The problem was doing it silently and without anyone else seeing. This was an infiltration mission from his employer's own words, not an all out attack.

That, and if the castle fell the _Hokage_ would likely destroy it and the surrounding city.

And then came the most important and difficult part of the problem.

These weren't the lord's guards.

These were the most highly trained soldiers in the world, the forces of the Empire of Fire.

The same brand of soldier that had been led in an assault on his home.

Naruto was very well hidden as he observed the guards, which was good because he noticed right away that these men were professionals and very good at what they did. At least two thirds of them were constantly looking around while one third were talking and carrying on a conversation as if nothing was going on. Two more men were very well hidden in the shadows of the walls, blending in so perfectly well that it had to be a genjutsu. They were only spotted after twenty minutes of observation when he saw one twitch and shimmer slightly. The men talking always were shifting around, so each man looked to talk at least some. Even experts would have been fooled into finding the entire guard to be lax, but these men were anything but. Naruto had no doubt that if he were to attack he would likely be nearly killed before he finished them all off unless he used some of his less subtle jutsu.

No, they would not be going in the front door. Not while the _Hokage_ was here.

Naruto frowned before ever so slowly crawling backwards from his lookout between two large leafy plants on the rooftop of a small house and dropped to the ground in the alley way behind the house a moment later, removing his very weak genjutsu. It wasn't nearly to the level of those guards, but unless someone was looking right at him it would appear he was slightly camouflaged. It was good for night activities. But, as the sun was starting the come up, it was time to head back.

* * *

Hinata woke up to find herself wet. She blinked her eyes a few times to make sure she wasn't dreaming. Nope, she was definitely very wet. She felt like she had just taken a shower with all her clothes on and in her bed, except not half as refreshed. Her wet and cold clothes clung to her body like a second skin as she slowly groaned and stood to her feet.

_This is not the way I wanted to start today._

She glanced over to where Naruto had been sleeping the night before only to see and empty bed with his futon perfectly folded and it appearing as if he had never been there. His fox, on the other hand, was just waking up. She found it strangely cute as it yawned before getting up with completely soaked fur. It looked about as dejected as a fox possibly could. She could have sworn that if it could speak it would have been saying something like "Why me?"

"Hinata?"

The dark blue haired girl spun quickly and was instantly staring into the blue eyes of Naruto Uzumaki, who happened to be crouching on the plant covered wall that surrounded the roof.

They were only inches from each other.

It took almost five seconds for each to realize that the other was almost touching them before the both backed off with a blush.

Hinata towards the center of the roof.

Naruto towards the street about two stories down.

"Naruto!"

Hinata rushed to the roofs edge only to see Naruto standing on the side of the wall like it was a common place occurrence. He quickly flung himself over the top of the wall and next to Hinata.

"Shh! You want the citizens to hear you?"

"But you just fell off a roof!"

"Shh!"

Hinata frowned a bit. Naruto obviously could take care of himself, but if he thought that would keep her from worrying when he fell off a roof, he was dead wrong.

"Hello? Is everything ok up here?"

Hinata and Naruto both turned to see the kind old woman who had granted them the roof of her inn to stay on. She was rather small and walked with a cane and a large smile everywhere. Hinata turned and bowed with respect, and Naruto was quick to imitate.

"Hai, ba-sama. We're fine, thank you."

"My dear! You're both soaking wet! Here, come in. You can use my shower if you want to get cleaned off and I have dry towels and a fire going to help dry your things. Please come in. Most of the people in the inn are leaving today anyway and you can have a real room tonight. I won't even charge you for it after the horrible weather last night. So many clouds…"

The old woman was already walking down the stairs when Hinata and Naruto realized exactly what she had been saying. They turned to each other.

"Showers?"

"Fire?"

"Are you two youngsters coming?"

"Hai!"

* * *

Needless to say the showers and the warm fire warmed them up and brightened the day up immensely. The pair found themselves in a small room near the entrance of the inn that was the living area of the old woman drinking tea, eating delicious sweet biscuits the woman called cookies, and sitting in front of a warm fire. The lady had not only given them a shower and places to dry their clothes, but she also provided clothes to wear while they dried. Hinata had been given a white kimono that had apparently been the old woman's in the far away past while Naruto was wearing some old clothing that had been the old woman's husband's.

Dawn had come nearly as soon as they had started taking showers, obviously Hinata had gone first, and the old lady had checked out the patrons that were leaving. By the time she had the two dressed and drinking their tea she was sitting with them and telling them all about the 'good old days' when she was a beautiful woman who had many children and a fine husband.

"But the children never visit anymore, sadly. And my husband passed on many years ago."

"I'm sure he was a great man." Hinata smiled. Naruto was mostly just enjoying the cookies and the fire and ignoring the woman while Hinata listened intently. She didn't really blame him though. From what she could determine he didn't receive kindness like this all that often.

"Oh, that he was, child. Back when we were first wed he was the second in command of the lord's guards. He resigned after the new Water Lord was announced, but he left as one of the greatest men to have fought for the Water Nation."

"He was a soldier?" Hinata was surprised to see Naruto actually respond to the conversation. He had looked like he hadn't been listening at all.

"Oh, that he was. He was famous in this city and his home town for his sword skills. Even when they developed these new weapons with black powder he remained one of the greatest of Water's soldiers. Then this new lord was announced and my husband retired and we started this inn."

"He must have not liked the new lord."

"No, he did not approve of him. But we accepted his rule and things haven't turned out too bad since then. How is the tea, dear? Need any more?"

"Oh, no thank you. It is great, by the way." Hinata watched as the old woman sat back in her chair and sighed in contentment at the comfort it provided.

"It does me good to see such nice youngsters today. Most of the youth in the city are such ruffians and are always causing trouble. Why there is this one boy here who calls himself the 'Great Konohamaru' and runs around with his gang of ten year olds causing all sorts of trouble…"

"Konohamaru?" Naruto looked intrigued by the name.

"Hai… that is him. The kid has done a lot of mischief, from stealing food to repainting the interior walls of the Lord's manor…"

"Wait? The guards just let him through with a buck of paint?" Naruto was leaning forward now, leaning on her every word.

"Oh no! They would never do that. The child is very strange. He can get almost anywhere and never gets caught. I think he knows some secret passageways through the city, but I'm not going to check for them. He doesn't bother me because I give his gang some cookies every now and again. They aren't bad kids, mind you. Just orphans and children with nothing else to do and just want some love and care."

Naruto had sat back and was staring into the fire deep in thought. Hinata decided to pick up the conversation. She was eager to draw it to a more lighthearted topic.

"Ba-sama…"

"Please, dear, call me Shizune."

"Shizune-san, could you tell me about your children?"

The old woman brightened up at just the mention of her children.

"Well, let me tell you about them…"

* * *

Hinata and Naruto walked through the city of Kirigakure as if sightseeing. After chatting with Shizune for what seemed to Naruto like hours after her comment about this 'Konohamaru' they had finally been able to politely leave and 'explore the city'. For Naruto it was more of a recognizance mission. Hinata was nearly hiding as she walked closely beside him. Every so often she saw a face she recognized but most likely had never even seen her, and she jumped to Naruto's other side to avoid them. She was careful, however, to keep in mind exactly how close she was to Naruto. As they had been leaving the small inn, the woman had mentioned when she had gone up to retrieve the two futons from the roof it had appeared as if only one had been used, as Naruto's had been neatly folded. She then proceeded to embarrass the two late teenagers by suggesting with a twinkle in her eye that she only get them a room with one futon for the next night.

Needless to say both of them had broken out in blushes that would have caused the room to heat up more if there hadn't been a fireplace in it already. Hinata had explained while stuttering heavily that they weren't involved like that, he was her protector not her… lover.

The woman only started laughing at them before taking Hinata off to the side and whispering something in her ear that Naruto just couldn't quite catch even with his rather good hearing.

_I never can seem to hear old woman gossip. Maybe it's some hidden technique or something…_

Hinata seemed to want to nearly pass out from whatever had been said to her, but Naruto had quickly waved good bye to the woman before any more damage could be done to the girl.

Now they walked the streets like average tourists or people on business with time off. The late morning light pierced though the clouds that were flying high on this day, creating weird patterns of sunlight and shade that had them cold one moment and warm the next.

How people could handle this weird city was the question running through both of their minds as they walked.

It was near noon when Naruto finally led them to an area of town that was less busy then the shopping district the inn had been in. It was here that Naruto told her his idea. He leaned in close to her and put his arm over her shoulder, causing both of them to slightly blush but almost instantly go back to normal as Naruto started talking.

"Hinata, before you woke up I went to the mansions front gate and scouted it out."

"And?"

"There is no way in."

"No way in? Not even for you?"

"I'm flattered that you think that highly of me, but even I would have a hard time fighting off twelve imperial shock troopers from the _Hokage_ under _his _rule."

Hinata noticed the very distinct venom in his voice when he mentioned whoever was in command of the troops. She was interested, but let it slide for the time being.

"So what's the plan?"

"Konohamaru."

"The gang leader?"

"Hai. He can get in, so all we need to do is find out how he does it."

"How are we going to do that? Ask nicely? We probably can't even find him…"

"Not so. Why do you think I brought us to this district that is crowded, but not too crowded?"

"You knew of a good place to have lunch?"

Naruto stared at her for a few seconds before going back to what he was saying. Hinata could have sworn he cracked a smile at her joke.

"No, the truth is that this is the perfect place to get pick-pocketed."

"And?"

"And who is most likely going to be a pickpocket in this city?"

"One of Konohamaru's gang member's?"

"Or the little brat himself."

"Ah… ok then."

Hinata instantly picked up the pace before looking into the window of a small jewelry store. She looked for a few seconds before turning back to Naruto.

"Oh Naru-kun! I simply must have these ear rings! They would go perfectly with the engagement ring you gave me!"

Naruto stared wide eyed at her for almost a full second before catching on.

"But dear, I only just won the lottery yesterday. Do you want to spend it_ all_ today?"

"Oh… but it would go perfect with that dress I have…"

Naruto saw a small child run into an alley out of the corner of his eye. He leaned in and whispered into her ear like a lover would have.

"Good job. I saw the kid run off."

He noticed Hinata's face flush a little from the close contact. His lips were brushing her ear. His face, just out of her sight, wasn't much better than hers.

_I don't know why I'm getting so worked up over a little contact._

_I hope he doesn't notice my blush!_

Hinata tried to lighten the mood by giving a fake little pout before muttering about how the bracelet would have gone well with her dress.

The pair continued walking and window shopping without actually buying anything. Naruto was beginning to notice young children scouting them out from a distance. None had yet moved in or looked ready to pounce, so they kept up walking and looking ripe for the pickings. They were about to stop for lunch when Naruto noticed a small kid with spiked brown hair and a yellow scarf walk towards them in a very indirect manner. He had to admit, the boy was good on his approach. If Naruto wasn't a trained ninja, he might have succeeded.

The kid, who Naruto assumed was Konohamaru from the fact that the few other kids his age around seemed to smirking and confident that they were about to share in the spoils. Naruto and Hinata, who had also spotted the kid, abruptly changed course and headed for a shop very close to an alleyway, where they both looked into the shops from the window. Naruto could almost feel the kid come closer, and he saw the veins on Hinata's eyes raise slightly. She mouthed the words 'three meters' to him and he nodded. Her eyes went back to normal and Naruto concentrated on his back pocket where he had an overly stuffed wallet that was mostly filled with blank paper. He counted to three and then felt surprisingly little, even with his ninja training, as his wallet was removed.

He instantly spun, catching the kid with his wallet still in his hand. Instantly he had the kid held in the air by the back of the kid's jacket.

"Well, well, well, darling. It looks like this kid has taken…" He didn't get any farther in his talk as he instantly was reminded why he should never underestimate anyone. The kid let out a perfectly placed kick right into the one area Naruto tried to keep safe more than any other. He nearly dropped the kid as tears came to his eyes. Hinata looked over at him with worry, but to the surprise of both her and the kid in his grip he straightened up and the look in his eyes darkened momentarily.

"You'll have to kick harder than that to down me, kid."

Naruto seemed to nearly vanish as he sped into the alley before anyone noticed. Hinata casually followed, noticing many kids converging on their hiding place.

"Naruto…"

"I know. Go. Wait for me at the inn. I'll be there soon."

"Alright, but…"

"Don't worry, Hinata. I wouldn't lower myself to hurting kids."

"I… I know." She gave him a small smile that made his heart jump a little to his own surprise before running off towards the other end of the alley. Naruto, on the other hand, held the shocked kid in his hand and jumped. He figured he was far enough away from the lord's mansion to not be seen and landed softly on the roof of the store before he set the kid down.

"What the hell?"

"Now, now. Such language from a child."

Konohamaru charged him with anger in his eyes and threw a punch which Naruto dodged. He kept throwing punches while he stumbled around in an anger induced stupor as Naruto calmly dodged each blow. Finally the kid over extended himself too close to the edge of the roof, which only had very small walls, and tripped towards the edge.

He had resigned himself to death and closed his eyes as he began to fall, but noticed a second or to later that he hadn't actually fallen. Instead, he opened his eyes to find the stupid blonde haired man holding him with only his thumb and index finger by the back of his jacket. He set him down with his back to the wall of the roof and sat himself down a few feet away.

"Are you ready to calm down yet?"

"You're gonna kill me, aren't you?"

The blonde man stared at him like he had just grown a second head.

"Of course not!"

Instantly the kid collapsed from suspense and nervousness. All the fight left him.

"You gonna turn me in?"

"No."

"You gonna rob me? I ain't got nothing."

"No, I'm not going to rob you."

"Then what do you want from me?"

"I want information."

The Great Konohamaru was stunned into silence. Never once had anyone wanted him for information. To catch him for his crimes, maybe. To pay him back for his pranks, more then likely as well. But for information?

"I want to know where you got you name."

The brown haired ten year old almost laughed.

"My name? You want to know where I got my name?"

The blonde seemed to get slightly ticked at his teasing, and, remembering exactly what he could do, Konohamaru calmed down.

"I named myself Konohamaru."

"Why?"

"Cause I could. No one else would name me. I took it from the legendary village of ninjas. Its my favorite story…"

"Ah…" The blonde sat in silence for a few seconds deep in thought.

"Can I go now?"

"One more question, Konohamaru. How would someone enter the lord's mansion without being noticed."

"Oh, you heard about that? Well, it really is a trade secret. I can't tell just anyone…"

The blonde cracked his knuckles.

"… but you seem like a nice kinda guy. I'll tell ya. You see, there is a sewer system that runs over most of the city."

"I know."

"Yeah, but what most people don't know is that there is a secondary sewer that is never used unless there is severe rainfall. Hasn't been used in years. This one isn't just some pipes, you can walk in it. Well, I can. You would have to duck…"

"And?"

"And it goes everywhere. It has an exit in one of the fountains of the lord's mansion. The thing is a waste of water and is constantly taking new water out of the main lines, so while it will drain on you when you exit, it will fill right back up almost instantly so no one knows you came from there. The thing is well disguised, so no one I know of even knows that there is an exit that can fit a person in the lord's mansion, let alone in city. Any old abandoned well is an entrance. But you'll need a ladder to get down, it's a long…"

"Thanks, kid. Here…" The blonde took the wallet he had taken back from Konohamaru and opened it, emptying a large amount of worthless paper onto the ground. A small wad of actual money was near the bottom and he handed it to the boy who looked at him as if it had been him to grow a second head.

"For the info. I pay for what I want… most of the time." The man gave him a smirk before standing up, dusting himself off, and jumping off the side of the building. Konohamaru jumped up and ran to the edge just in time to see the man nonchalantly walking off into the crowd as if nothing had happened.

"What a weirdo… wait…"

The kid looked around for a second.

"How the hell do I get down?"

* * *

Hinata and Naruto met up again at the inn and this time set off for lunch. Hinata didn't complain when Naruto found a stand that was selling ramen and they sat down to eat a peaceful meal. When they were done, meaning after Hinata had had one bowl and Naruto had had ten, it was already late afternoon. They both agreed that it would be best to infiltrate the place at night, so they decided to turn in early and get some rest before hand.

That was a mistake.

When they arrived at the inn and checked into their room they were more shocked than surprised to find that they had been given the 'honeymoon suite', complete with only one large bed and a bottle of sake for the 'young couple'. A little note on the bed from Shizune mentioned that they should 'enjoy the room upgrade to the fullest' and 'take advantage of their youth' among other things.

Needless to say they both stared at the note in Naruto's hands for minutes before it finally clicked in their head what was being implied.

"Damn that lady!"

"Naruto, don't say that!"

"You're thinking it, too!"

"No, I'm not!"

Naruto stared at her blankly.

"Well, she might have gone a little far… but it would be impolite to refuse her gift…" Hinata was feeling very lightheaded and kind of dizzy and couldn't meet Naruto's eyes, but she just decided it was from the heat from the fire place in the room.

The fire place shaped like a heart that currently had their pet fox, which they had left to keep Shizune company, curled up in front of.

Their pet fox?

_Since when is it 'our pet fox'?_

Naruto just glared a little at the paper, making sure to keep it between his face and Hinata.

In the end they kept the room, but passed on the sake. Hinata insisted he have the bed, and she would take the floor, but Naruto insisted the opposite and somehow they both ended up on far opposite sides of the bed facing opposite ways. They were tempted to sleep in their clothes, mainly because the only clothes the lady said had dried were apparently nothing of Naruto's and pair of panties of Hinata's. Hinata had insisted on borrowing a long nightie from the old woman's stored clothing and Naruto was determined to sleep with his undershirt and boxers on, which caused the old woman to snicker and mummer to herself about it not mattering what they put on when it would just come off.

Naruto swore to Hinata he would kill the woman if she did one more thing to 'help'.

But as he laid in bed, only a few scarce feet from the young woman he was sworn to protect, he wondered whether or not the woman didn't know something he didn't.

_Stupid old bat. She just needs to keep implying that there is something going on when we keep telling her we're just traveling companions. Traveling companions… wow, that does sound lame. Maybe she was right to assume. But still, we aren't doing anything. And won't ever do anything. She's just a really weird girl who is an excellent fighter, chakra expert, and thinks she has visions. And has long indigo hair and those haunting pearl eyes and a near perfect body from what I saw this morning in those wet clothes… augh! Stop thinking that way, Naruto! Employer, remember? Keep it clean... shower... Hinata... KUSO!_

Surprisingly, the girl only a few feet away from him was having just as hard of time falling asleep.

_Oh, why can't I fall asleep now that she said that to me… I haven't stopped thinking about it all day! She just had to pull me aside and tell me… augh…_

Hinata thought back to the morning when they were leaving. Shizune had pulled her aside after their discussion about how her and Naruto weren't actually in any sort of relationship.

"Dear, if there is one thing my age has brought it is how to read people. You don't have to hide it, I can see that you two were meant for each other. You couldn't stop glancing at him while we were having tea. And he might have looked inattentive, but I could tell that he was paying close attention, mostly to what you were saying. You two have a bond, some sort of connection that I can see. If you truly aren't in a 'relationship' as you say, I bet you that you will be soon."

With that the woman smiled and went to prepare the room she now laid in.

Feet from the man she was supposed to fall in love with, apparently.

_I can't stop thinking about it. Shizune must be wrong… I can't fall in love with… I can't get in a relationship with… I… I don't like him like…_

Yet each time she tried to convince herself that what the old woman said was completely wrong she couldn't find a real reason to say it must be false.

Granted, she couldn't prove it true, but…

According to Shizune it was only a matter of time.

_The truth is… I might… I think I might… I…_

Before either could totally fall asleep they both had the same thought at least once.

_Maybe the old woman could be right…_


	6. Pendant

Chapter 5: Pendant

* * *

After finally drifting off to sleep, the two only managed to get a little rest. It was just before midnight when they found themselves waking up. Naruto had trained his body to only sleep for specific lengths of time, and even then he needed less sleep than any normal person would. Hinata, on the other hand, who was an incredibly light sleeper, felt the movement of the bed and opened her eyes instantly.

And then closed them.

Naruto's face was only about two inches from hers and he was just starting to wake up. Somehow they had moved in their sleep be near the center of the large bed, instead of the outsides, and facing each other instead of away from each other.

Needless to say, Hinata was started by the appearance of the blonde right in front of her. She opened her eyes a second time to find him staring right at her.

"Hinata… what are you doing on my side of the bed?" If it weren't for her embarrassment she might have caught the small blush on his cheeks.

"I'm not. You're on my side."

Naruto literally jumped out of the bed, the sheets flying off of the two. She had been right, they were both in the middle, but he was without a doubt closer to her side than his own. Naruto tried to offer an excuse, but when he opened his mouth no words would come out.

Of course, that had nothing to do with the scantily clad woman in front of him. During the night Hinata's nightie had ridden up on her legs and a dangerous amount of thigh was now showing. No, it had nothing to do with that. Bu, surprisingly, when Hinata realized her predicament, pulled the long shirt down over her legs and gave a small 'eep' of embarrassment and fright, and then sat there covered he was able to speak again.

"I'm so sorry, Hinata! I didn't… I mean…"

"No… it was part my fault…"

"I didn't mean to…"

"It really wasn't a problem…"

And so the apologies continued softly as they took turns with the bathroom area to get dressed. Naruto had snuck downstairs and found the darkest clothing either of them had, which were completely dry despite the lies of the conniving old woman. Naruto wore his dark grey clothing he had received from the doctor in the small farming village and Hinata wore black loose pants and a tunic, which Naruto noted were perfect for her style of fighting.

_She knows how to plan ahead._

The moment they were ready Naruto opened the window.

"Can't we just walk out the front door?"

"We could." Naruto turned away from the window and walked back to her. She sighed. She didn't want to end up accidentally falling two stories. Granted, with her training…

"But where is the fun in that?"

Hinata spun only to find a smirking Naruto running directly at her.

"Wha…"

She never had a chance to finish whatever she had been planning to say as Naruto swept her into his arms before leaping out the large window.

And into the night air.

They came to a stop after only a few minutes. Naruto had scouted around the area of their inn for these old abandoned wells that once had supplied the city with water and stored the rain, and this one had been the closest. He placed a rather shaky Hinata onto the ground where she leaned against the near wall for support. She was even more pale than normal.

Naruto had gone leaping at full speed across the roof tops with Hinata in his arms, and it did not settle well with Hinata at all.

"Hinata? Are you ok?"

She shivered once before straightening up a little and walking carefully to the well.

"Ha… Hai. I just… I don't like… that was a little too fast for me. And high. High and fast."

"Ah… gomen."

Naruto shook his head. He hadn't ever carried someone like that while running at top speed, so he really had no idea what it was like, but more importantly to him was the reason he had done it.

_What I just did… is something I would never had done only days ago. Just a few days ago I hardly spoke, let alone joked like that. Why? How am I changing? This isn't like me…_

Naruto's face suddenly went back to being emotionless. It was time to do a mission.

"Hinata-sama, please follow me. It might be easier if you had your wings."

Hinata flinched slightly at Naruto's tone of voice and expression. What had she done? A moment ago he had been smiling. She put off her questions, though, and concentrated her chakra. A small burst of light later and her wings were on her back, glowing slightly from the chakra pulsing within them. She noticed Naruto stare at them a moment with something like a hint of envy, but that couldn't have been right…

Naruto, without another word, jumped down the well.

_I hope he knows how deep it is._

Hinata jumped the small wall and into the hole. It was deep. Really deep. She flapped her wings a few times to keep her decent at a decent rate that wouldn't break a leg or something when she hit the ground or water at the bottom. She was wondering exactly how deep the pit was when she remembered the complete pitch black that would no doubt give her only instants to prepare for landing.

As she remembered this, though, she landed less than gracefully in the waiting arms of Naruto. He instantly put her down with only the slightest blush that couldn't be seen by Hinata at all.

_Stop it! Now is not the time for that!_

Hinata and Naruto were standing in about knee deep water that was surprisingly clean. A few pieces of garbage and wood floated in the water, but the water itself was a clear as when it felt from the sky. Hinata watched as Naruto picked a large piece of wood from the water before doing those strange hand symbols again, these ones slightly different, and lighting the stick on fire.

The first time she had seen it, it had amazed her. This time she only could think of how he was able to channel chakra and yet _not_ have wings…

"Alright. Let's move."

Hinata nodded and let her wings dissipate, leaving them once again in the dark except with only the fire from the makeshift torch to guide them.

They walked for almost an hour like that, Naruto in front and silent and Hinata behind and thinking to herself about the man in front of her. She wondered about many things, but the thing most on her mind was his wingless nature and how, forgotten until now, it seemed slightly familiar…

Not like she knew him before this. It was almost like she had heard about him… in a story or a myth…

Naruto came to a place where the tunnel split, he turned to make sure she was ok.

"We're taking the routes that lead up. This will eventually lead us to under the fountain in the grand hall of the Lord's mansion. Is there anything you can tell me about that room and exactly how close this thing will be?"

She shook her head to clear her mind. Now was not the time to think back to her childhood.

"The grand hall is very big, but at least when I was there they didn't keep it well lit. Opposite the entrance door is a staircase that was always creepily dark at night. If we hid there a person would need to be next to us to see us."

"Unless they were trained in ninjutsu."

"I'm not even sure about that. But then we need to go up the stairs and continue going up the stairs until we come to the Lord's main office…"

"You hid the amulet that you knew the entire forces of the Fire and Water nations would be desperate to find in the office of one of the people who want it the most."

Hinata looked up from the water that barely covered the floor, as they had been traveling uphill for a while now, and into the eyes of Naruto. She expected anger, but found something else. Naruto looked like he was about to explode from laughter that he wouldn't let out.

"That is… the funniest… thing I have… ever heard… in my entire life!"

Hinata stared as Naruto kneeled on the floor trying very hard to not produce loud noises as he controlled his breathing. Hinata just started to smile before letting out a few shy giggles. Tears of silent laughter were in his eyes when he finally got up and started walking again, Hinata glad to see that his more open side had show itself again. They had waked in near silence for the entire time, and now Naruto seemed back to normal.

When, from Naruto's point of view, he was back to anything but normal.

_Why did I do that? That made no sense. I haven't laughed like that since… well… since my days at the academy. Back then I could laugh, because there was reason… then… all reason died._

Naruto frowned a bit as his walked up a rather steep area. The floor had actually been carved into steps.

"It looks like this is an escape passage for the Lord."

"Long forgotten according to that kid, but yeah, that is what it probably was."

_What is it about this girl that is causing me to revert back to my previous ways? How can she do this? Why am I letting her? And why am I finding it so hard to fight back…_

"Naruto?"

"Hai?"

"… never mind…"

"No, say it."

"Those wires you use. They seem…"

"Physically impossible?"

"A little. But obviously it is possible. I saw them tear that monster to shreds, and that bandit never stood a chance."

"They are very, very thin and very, very strong. And their movement, while mostly just how I throw them, is also slightly guided by chakra I pour into them."

"How thin?"

"Thinner than you can imagine. And strong enough that the strongest thing I have ever known wasn't able to break out of them. In fact, strength works against someone with these. Before they would snap they would carve right through whatever was putting pressure on them."

"What about metal?"

"Most metal cant stand up to it. I haven't found a type that can cut it. There are just a few rare kinds that can withstand it for periods of time."

"Why do you use those wires?"

"Because they…"

Naruto stopped as they reached a dead end. The path ended in a circular area not much bigger than a person with a ladder built into the wall.

"I think we're here."

Hinata was absolutely silent as Naruto climbed the rungs. She climbed right behind him, staying as close to his torch as possible. When they reached the top of the area there was what appeared to be a square tile blocking the escape route. A small drop had formed and water constantly fell down from the corner.

"Shit…"

"What?"

"I forgot that this was exiting into a fountain."

"And?"

"We don't want to leave trails of water behind us as we walk."

"Naruto, we don't really have a choice. Besides, this will be fast. If it doesn't go fast we're dead anyway."

"Yeah, don't remind me. Fine. Here, grab my hand."  
Hinata did as she was took, but wasn't expecting Naruto to pull her into a one armed embrace, completely supporting her weigh away from the ladder.

"Naruto…"

"No more talking from here on out. Only hand signals. Ready?"

Hinata nodded.

Naruto nodded back.

He pushed the tile up and to the side, instantly letting in a large amount of water before he had the chance to jump out of the small waterfall. On his way out Hinata managed to slide the tile back into place, and then they were in the air, spinning.

Naruto had added spin to his jump to make sure he got a view of the whole room within a second of exiting the fountain. What he saw was perfect. It was exactly as Hinata had said. Poorly lit, probably due to the penny pinching ideas of the Water Lord, and empty of any guard.

Guard…

Naruto quickly landed and instantly jumped towards the staircase Hinata had shown him. In the process he spun again, this time to throw some water off with the centripetal force. He landed next to the stairs and quickly rolled both himself and Hinata under the lowest and darkest spot.

And just in time.

The entrance door opened slightly to show a soldier from the outside. They managed to hear a slight bit from the open door that the man stood in.

"What? Did you hear something?"

"…maybe."

"Maybe, he says. From the inside. Now who would be there. Oh, yeah, only the people we let in. And who are they, the people who are supposed to be in there. If you heard something it was one of them."

"…maybe."

"Close the door. No one else heard anything at all. Stop wasting out time."  
The man glanced around the room quickly, not noticing the small wet spots in the elaborate carpets, and then turned around closing the door.

Naruto almost gave an audible sigh of relief. Hinata did give one, even if it was the quietest one Naruto had ever heard. He motioned for her to follow him as he cautiously slunk out from under the stairs.

The room they were in could be best described as opulent. Plush red carpets were spread from wall to wall. The railings of the stairs appeared to be solid gold. There was a massive fountain in the middle of the room made by a talented sculptor by the looks of it. Expensive paintings covered the decorated walls and a dozen glass chandeliers lit the room poorly.

_The lights are probably as old as the building and the Lord does want to waste the money replacing them. This place was made to be broken into._

And he proved his point easily. The carpets were so think a raging bull wouldn't make sounds with his hooves. The light was so dim, especially at night, that Naruto was surprised any normal person would be able to avoid falling into the fountain by trying to open the door. The fountains splashing even more covered up any noise he could possibly make.

Naruto snickered. He would be able to hold loud conversations with Hinata and no one would hear them in this room.

They crept up the stairs, each step not so much as creaking, and made it to the top. The stair was only one flight, running parallel to the back wall of the room, and brought them to catwalk that overviewed the room. They quickly crossed this area because there would be no place to hide if that guard decided to pop his head back in. At the end of the catwalk was a hallway that was darker than the room they had come from. Naruto almost sighed. It was like the Lord was begging to be robbed. He couldn't blame Konohamaru for vandalizing this place. It almost deserved it with its cockiness.

Hinata passed him and came to the first door on his left. She glanced both ways quickly, pausing as she looked down the stretch of hallway they had not come from. Down that way were two statues that she didn't remember being there… But they didn't matter to her now. The door in front of her was just as decorative as the rest of the building, but this was obviously the place they had been trying to get to.

The sign on the door saying it was the Lord of Water's office only confirmed it.

Hinata pointed at the door and Naruto removed a small blade from the small weapon pouch he carried on his leg, intent on picking the lock. Hinata just turned the knob and opened the door.

Naruto stared at the door like it had just grown a head.

"What kind of idiot…"

"Sh."

Hinata almost laughed as the one who was supposed to be the professional almost cursed aloud at the idiocy of the Lord of Water. They both walked into the office, which was more of a living area than anything with a couch, table, and a few chairs, and she shut the door silently behind them.

"Where is it?"

"I thought we couldn't talk."

"I expected a mansion that would be as riddled with guards like the outside was, or at least traps and surveillance. No, this place was made to be robbed. A drunk would be able to go unnoticed in this lighting and with all the sound reducers around here."

"The Lord always did like quiet."

Hinata strode to the fireplace where she froze. A fire was still burning a little. She grit her teeth as she reached over the small flames and grabbed on of the small bricks in the back of the fireplace.

"Hinata…"

She gave a small grunt as she pulled the brick free and placed it next to the fire. Naruto noticed that the air now had a slight smell of burned flesh. Hinata ignored him as she reached into the small cavity behind the place the brick had been and removed a small pendant on a chain. She quickly handed it to him.

He flinched as it hit his hands, but was surprised to find the metal chain and actual medallion to be quite cool. He quickly placed it in his pouch, not giving it a second though for the time being, and grabbed the brick in his hand. He felt his hand immediately heat up, but quickly shoved it back into its hole at the back of the fireplace and then grabbed some soot to smear over the edges, making it look like the rest of the fireplace.

Then he quickly grabbed Hinata by her waist and jumped over the couch at the other side of the room, glad that it was designed so the top came over the back, giving him just enough room to lay down behind it and not be seen from the top or the side that was against the wall.

"Naruto, wha…"

"Someone's coming."

Hinata instantly was silent. Neither seemed to notice or care that when they had jumped over the couch and behind it Naruto had landed flat on his back with Hinata laying directly on top of him. Of course it helped that her face only came to his upper chest and neck, or they would have been kissing.

All thoughts left there minds as they heard the door open and the voices come in.

"… have the whole garrison of the city looking for her. I don't see why…" Hinata recognized the voice as the Lord of Water. She frowned. Another voice suddenly spoke up, and she felt Naruto's body beneath her instantly tense up. If she could have seen his face without moving, she would have seen surprise and anger.

"Because, my fat _Lord_, the master's treasure is not here. Nor is it in the city. And I have personally interrogated every person that previously worked in this… _mansion_… and none of them have it either. The only we have not found at the place she supposedly lived is this blue haired girl you speak of."

"We're looking, alright?" The Lord sounded more afraid than anything.

"No, my master does not think just looking is 'alright'."

"What is this trinket, anyway? Why is it so important..." Hinata was shocked to hear the sound of a person gagging and choking.

"You don't need to know, you fat and unimportant man. You've already just about sold you nation to the nation of Fire. How dare you question the mighty Fire Lord? He is your Lord as well. You pay us and we protect you from… unfortunate events. That is how this… _alliance_... works. You deserve no information and asking for it is insulting to my master."

A body dropped some distance and gasping was heard. Hinata was getting scared. Who was this man?

"The Fire is all consuming, though, my dear Water Lord. And I will find this 'trinket', as you call it, one way or another. My master has informed me that I am to leave for the Fire Nation immediately. The _Hokage_ is already prepared to disembark. I am leaving my men here to make sure you continue the search in my absence. In one week I will come to either collect the pendant or collect my men. If it is the former then congratulations, you get to live another day. If it is the latter then the Hokage will open fire on this city until the Land of Water only consists of small farming communities."

"You… you can't…"

"Hai. I can. I will return in one week." The door opened and the man she didn't know walked out, quickly followed by a sputtering Lord of Water.

Naruto stayed still for a few moments after the door shut. That was when Hinata finally saw his face.

It was frightening.

His eyes, even in the low light, looked different slightly. The light also seemed to make those symmetrical scars on his face look bigger than they really were. But most important was the look of absolute rage on his face. His voice carried hints of it as well, his emotions seeping past his normal calm. He shoved the pendant into her hand.

"Hinata, take it and meet back at the inn. We leave at first light."

"Where are you going?"

"To finish something."

And then he opened the door, quickly looked both ways, and snuck towards the way opposite of the entrance hall. Hinata was right behind him.

"Naruto, this is the way to the dock for the air ships…"

"I figured that."

"But we might run into the Water Lord."

"No, 'we' won't. You are supposed to go back the other way."

"But…"

Suddenly an alarm started blaring and red emergency lights started going off. A voice seemed to reverberate off the walls.

**Intruder Alert! We have an intruder on level two!**

"Shit!" Naruto had just passed through the two statues that Hinata had not remembered. He held up his hand, and a red light shown on it.

"Laser trip wires. I thought you said…"

"It wasn't here before! The imperials must have brought it!"

"Damn it!" Naruto grabbed her hand and ran the same way they had been going. The hallway turned into stairs and they ran up them as fast as Hinata could run with alarms and lights going off everywhere.

"Where is the dock?"

"Just ahead!"

Naruto came to a door and literally kicked it down in one kick.

The view that greeted them was not inviting.

A shocked Water Lord stood on his dock with two guards next to him. A tall black haired man wearing a white outfit with a purple rope belt stood with another two imperial guards. All of them were staring at the pair. It took Hinata a few moments to realize, first, that this was the man from the office conversation, and second, that it was the same man Naruto had transformed into to enter the city.

"Orochimaru…"

"You seemed to know me, boy, but I don't recognize you."

Naruto stepped further into the moonlight and the light of small lamps around the docking area. Instantly the man's face went from emotionless to a purely evil smile.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Naruto-kun."

Naruto already had his claws on his hands. Hinata decided that now would be a good time to call her wings, and instantly her wings lit the area slightly more. She sunk into her traditional stance. When the man, Orochimaru, saw this he smiled even larger.

"And the blue haired wench, I assume?"

"That's her!" The Lord's face was so red it looked like he was about to have an aneurism.

"Girl, you're coming with me."

"She isn't going anywhere with you!" Naruto's voice seemed to get more and more like a growl as he went on.

"Oh, does little Naruto-kun have a crush? It wouldn't happen to be like the one you had on that girl from Konoha, would it? You know, the one I personally gutted?"

Naruto gave a roar as Orochimaru signaled his guards to attack. Three had already drawn swords and the last had drawn a firearm, but none called on their wings.

Naruto released two of his claws towards the two charging him. One of them dodged fast enough, but the other didn't even see the small claw that went through his eye and into his brain, instantly killing him. Naruto spun, releasing the rest of the wires and claws on his right hand, catching and wrapping the on that had dodged him. Naruto was about the pull the wires tight when he was hit in the side by an energy projectile from the gunman near Orochimaru, who had not moved.

"Naruto!" Hinata saw the boy get hit and finally brought her hand into the man she had been fighting hand to sword. His knee collapsed as she struck his lower thigh while rolling away from a slice that would have disemboweled her. Coming out of the roll she spun and struck the man in the back of the head, disconnecting his spine. While doing this she saw the last man take aim at her. So she continued her spin.

"Kaiten!"

A blue globe seemed to surround her for a few seconds, just long enough to absorb the shot from the gunman. The gunman was surprised by this, but was even more surprised when his head was separated from his body. Hinata turned to see Naruto still standing, his own opponents dead, and clutching his side a little as blood came from it.

But Orochimaru's eyes weren't on him anymore.

"My, my, my. I know of that technique, girl. I wonder… no… you can't be…"

Hinata stared at the man in shock. There was no way he could possibly know that technique. She was about to ask how when an energy shot simmered over her shoulder, nearly burning her. The door they had broken through now had guards in it, all of them readying guns.

"Well, as much as I would love to stay…" She turned again to see Orochimaru jumping unbelievably high to the back deck of the _Hokage_, which was just beginning to sail away. "… but I really must leave. My master must hear of this new development…"

"Bastard! Come back here!" Naruto jumped after him right after using some sort of technique to start a fire in front of the guards at the door. Hinata had no choice but to follow, and she jumped as hard as she could and used her wings to gain just enough height to land on the deck.

Naruto and Orochimaru were staring at each other, one with an insane grin and the other with a look of pure rage.

"Naruto-kun, I never would have thought you survived the purging."

"No thanks to you, you son of a bitch."

"Now, now, Naruto-kun, is that anyway to talk to one of the three legendary ninja?"

"Traitor!" I was less an exclamation than a roar, but for some reason Hinata didn't see that as strange.

"Traitor? Why, Naruto-kun, I'm hurt! I'm no traitor, I always served my master. And no one else. To obey that old man would have been traitorous."

"You think I care who you allege yourself to! You destroyed everyone and everything I ever knew! Without your information they would have never been able to invade us!"

"Hai, and that is what makes it so fun!"

Naruto stopped talking at that point and merely roared at his opponent. Hinata watched as Naruto vanished from sight, only to appear in front of the pale, snake like man in less time then it took to blink. It surprised her, and obviously did the same to Orochimaru.

"Wha…!"

Orochimaru found himself suddenly embedded in the exterior walls of the _Hokage_. But before he could remove himself he found his leg grabbed by the blonde. He was thrown roughly through the air again, but this time was caught by the wire that had wrapped itself around his waist.

Hinata gasped as the man split in half.

But before she could relax she watched the insides of the two halves appear to change from internal organs into white snakes. She almost screamed in fright as the two halves sewed themselves back together. The man spat a little blood from his mouth before smirking. She could tell that whatever he had just done definitely took its toll on him from the sweat and heavy breathing.

"Naruto-kun, I'm surprised you managed to get this strong. And those wires… those are the old man's, aren't they?"

"No. They used to be his. Now they are mine."

"I see…"

Hinata watched the man suddenly do a few of those hand signs Naruto did whenever he used his fire techniques.

He didn't say a word, though, as two lightning fast snakes with nearly limitless body length flew from his sleeves. Hinata was shocked, but was concentrating only on Naruto as he easily dodged one.

One?

_Where was the other aimed…_

Hinata suddenly felt herself get slammed in the stomach by the second snake. It didn't bite her, strangely enough, but it did push her off balance.

And off balance on an air ship over a quarter mile above the nearest ground is not a good thing at all.

"Ahhh!" Naruto watched with horror as Hinata was sent back into and over the railing.

"Hinata!" Naruto turned with a look of absolute hate towards the snake man.

"Well, Naruto-kun?"

"I'm coming for you, don't you ever sleep." And with those words Naruto dived off the side of the ship.

* * *

Hinata realized very quickly that she was not in a very good position. The Hokage had been passing over the city when she had been pushed off. A quarter of a mile up meant her wings were pretty much useless now that she used her Kaiten. It always sapped her strength, and now was no different.

She found herself with her back to the ground and looking at the form of the Hokage above her.

_Well… I've failed. I went and got myself killed. This is the end of my quest, being scraped off the pavement with a putty knife. I hope Naruto won…_

Suddenly she noticed something in her peripheral vision. There was another person up here! She turned her head towards the person falling with her and getting steadily closer. She instantly recognized the blonde hair when he was close enough to make out.

_Naruto?_

The body of her falling friend shot like a bullet towards her, grabbing her in his arms. She could barely hear him speak over the wind.

"Hinata! Are you ok?"

"Why did you come?" Hinata had tears in her eyes from the wind, but also from the fact that now both of them would die.

"Hang on!" Naruto began doing a few of those hand signs she had seen him do before. These were different from the ones he used for his fire jutsu. His hands ended in the shape of a cross.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Instantly the air above them was filled with a long line of Narutos. Hinata was speechless. There had to be hundreds of them all in a long line with one directly in front of them.

The Naruto holding her was falling feet first towards the ground and facing the clone in front of him. The clone nodded to him before grabbing the real Naruto's arm and flinging himself at top speed towards the ground. Instantly the next clone did the same thing, grabbing Naruto and using his body for leverage to gain even more speed towards the ground. And then the next did the same.

Hinata was confused for a few moments before she felt the wind around them slow down slightly.

They were falling slower.

Narutos clones were taking away their downwards momentum and adding to themselves. Hinata saw that they were still a good couple hundred feet above the rooftops of the city at night. At this rate they would still hit pretty hard, but it probably wouldn't be fatal. The clones continued propelling themselves down and Naruto up until they were only about twenty feet from the nearest roof top and the clones abruptly ran out.

Naruto landed on one knee from the impact with Hinata still in his arms. Tears were in both of their eyes from the wind, but that might have not been the only reason. Naruto smiled tiredly at the girl in his arms.

"Ok. I believe you."

Then he fell forward into unconsciousness.


	7. Escape

Chapter 6: Escape

* * *

Naruto awoke to find himself laying on a rather cold and hard surface. The sun wasn't yet fully in the sky from what he could tell, meaning not much time had passed since his daring and near suicidal dive off of the _Hokage_. There were walls leading up to the sky from his perspective from his back, but only two close together walls. He was in an alley.

In less then a second since waking up, Naruto realized all this.

That, and the fact that he was now being addressed.

"Naruto! Are you ok?" A desperate whisper came from his left, so he spun his head. There was the girl that was partially responsible for making him lose his quarry.

_Then again, I would have never found that bastard if I hadn't joined her. Something tells me we'll be meeting again._

Naruto sat up and shook his head. It felt like he had just been given a pint of that 'special cider' again. Damn those farmers and their 'special cider'. He remembered that day. And the morning after.

Just not the actually drinking it part.

"I'm fine, Hinata." Naruto noticed something when he looked closer at the girl. Her expression showed fear, worry, and sadness. Probably because she blamed herself for falling off the _Hokage_. But there was an underlying emotion he hadn't seen from her recently. Anger.

Naruto shrugged it off, she would tell him if it was important.

"How long was I out?"

"Almost an hour. You almost died from the chakra exhaustion... you should have died..."

"You make it sound like you want me to die."

"No!" Hinata's quick and adamant reply made him slightly regret his small joke. "It's just that… all those clones. The control needed. I haven't seen anyone with the chakra you have, Naruto."

"Me neither, but I think my chakra is the least of our worries." Naruto grabbed Hinata and pulled her and himself behind a near by trash receptacle just in time to miss a large contingent of soldiers run past.

"They've been like that since you passed out."

"And they'll stay like that till they catch us. So that mean's we're leaving this nation."

"What? Where will we go?"

"I thought you were the one with the plan, boss." Naruto gave her a smirk, just to let her know he was joking, but more to let her know that he was fine from the fall. In all actuality he felt like he had been run over a few more times by that Saber Dragon. Then revived. Then run over a few more times.

Yeah, it wasn't good.

Hinata managed a fake smile in return, she knew as well as he did that everything was not exactly 'ok'.

"The Land of Lightning."

"Lightning? There? But… ok, fine. You're the boss."

"What? You don't think we should?"

"I just have… issues with a few of the natives."

"Am I going to have to sneak you in?"

"Only if we go in via the palace, but that is an entirely different story. If we are going to Lightning, we need to go now. I don't know when the ferry is going to leave, but I would rather get there and find a place to hide before…"

He stopped talking as another group marched past.

"…before we get caught and have to fight our way out."

Hinata nodded before activating the Byakugan. Naruto watched the veins around her eyes expand and her eyes go from a pretty pearl color to more of an angry shade of paleness. Naruto almost shivered, but his back hurt too much to do so.

"There are a few more of the squads of troops around here. I did move you from where we fell at least a hundred meters."

"That was very smart."

"Thank you. Then I hid you on a roof nearby and went back to the place we stayed and grabbed all our stuff. The fox followed me."

At mention of the creature, it seemed to pop out from behind Hinata and give a small yip. The little thing just wouldn't stay away.

"That… was also ok."

"Glad you approve. But more importantly, we have an opening right now. Follow me."

For once, Naruto was very glad to be following someone else. Normally he would be in the lead every moment of a mission. Now, though, it was very nice to have a capable person to follow. Especially one that can see through walls and sense chakra.

But he was confused as well. Hinata was obviously angry about something. She was being terse with him, and since he had met her he hadn't seen her so much as slightly peeved.

Why? Was it something he did?

Naruto followed her through the streets. Everyone was indoors, which probably meant a city alarm had gone off while he had been unconscious. The only ones in the street were soldiers, and Hinata did a good job of avoiding them. They eventually reached the docks of the city, the section of the city where the land ceased and the open air waited. It seemed like the soldiers were expecting them, because a rather large group was stationed at the entrance to the docks, which was a massive gate in the large fence separating them from the city. Beyond them, though, they could see that the actual docks were still busy. Apparently not even a city wide emergency could stop the importing and exporting of the docks.

From their hiding spot on a nearby roof they could see that there were only a few cargo ships at port and one passenger ship. The word 'ship' is used loosely because, unlike the metal monstrosities of the Fire Nation, most countries used the living creatures as ways to sail the open air. They were called Windhorses, and true to their name these creatures resembled massive horses with no legs. Their legs were replaced by fin like appendages, and their bodies were filled with gas lighter than air. The massive creatures came in all shapes and sizes. Legend says they originated from the creatures of the long lost bodies of water of the earth, and that the Kami had allowed them life in the ocean of the sky. Either way, they were domestic now, bred and raised to carry cargo and people between the lands. The metal ships of the Fire Nation were created as cheap copies of these creatures. While they were not nearly as controllable as a Windhorse, they were much stronger and able to be loaded up with many more weapons. It was a matter of priority.

Naruto was eying the cargo ships, but he stopped as soon as he saw that both were from the Fire Nation. Luckily, though, Hinata pointed out that the passenger ship was preparing to disembark as they watched and it was heading for their destination.

The Land of Lightning.

"How do we get in, Naruto?"

"I can't pull the disguise trick, this time. They will be watching for it. There is an open space between the docks and any place we might jump from, so we would be sure to be seen."

"I could distract them…"

"No, you can't."

Hinata looked a little put off by his apparent lack of faith.

"Why, exactly, can I not?"

"Because you, Hinata, are the most important of the two of us. I am some nameless merc, and you have some sort of goal to save the world. I do believe you now, did I tell you that?"

"You said something like that right before you passed out."

"Yeah, well, I do. So if anyone is going to be a distraction, it is going to be me."

"When."

"You'll know when to go. Go a few houses further from the gate, and I'll get them distracted enough so they won't notice you hop off. Buy two tickets…"

Just then Naruto heard some commotion from the gate. They both spun to see something neither of them expected.

The little red fox that had just been next to both of them was running around the guards, through their legs, on their backs, and hopping on their heads.

And every last one of them was trying to catch it. Naruto was not about to let this opportunity pass.

"Go!"

He grabbed Hinata's hand and jumped, pulling Hinata with him. She would have been able to get through the fence easily with her skills, but this way would leave no trace. He leapt across the gap between the building and the fence before touching down on the fence and hopping down behind a cargo container.

"That fox…"

"Sometimes I wonder if it's smarter then I take it for."

Naruto and Hinata crept around the massive crate to see that the fox was still running around, too slippery to be caught. But almost as soon as he saw this the little fox paused and sniffed the air, stopping just soon enough to miss a diving guard which landed in front of him, and then charged over his back and into the docks towards the cargo ship.

"Alright, let's go."

* * *

Hinata sighed in relief. After the daring entrance into the docks they had almost been caught again by a wandering guard assigned to the cargo. She had just barely managed to knock him out before he had called out. Otherwise, they had made it to the passenger ship and purchased boarding passes without any trouble. They now were watching the Land of Water grow smaller in the distance from the deck of the ship.

"Was that a sigh?"

Hinata sighed again. There, right there, was her trouble.

"If you keep doing that I heard you'll turn into a grumpy old person."

He meant it as a joke. How can he be joking around like that? After he almost killed himself. After he almost killed me. Naruto had a lot of explaining to do if she was going to forgive him for that.

"Alright, now what's wrong?"

"Who was that man?"

Naruto went silent. She knew he knew exactly what she was talking about. The man from the office. This… Orochimaru. Naruto had nearly killed himself and her trying to get this man. Who was he?

"What man?"

"You know exactly who I'm talking about."

Silence again. The clouds around them flowed past beautifully. The sun caused many to light up like massive bright lanterns. But Hinata was more interested in the man next to her and why he would do something so stupid as to blow a mission like that.

"His name is Orochimaru."

"I gathered that." Hinata almost flinched at her own bitterness. Naruto did flinch.

"He used to belong to me village, but… but when the new Fire Lord came into power he went from being the head of our special forces to being the head of _his_ special forces."

"Was he always that…"

"Creepy? Yes. The man wasn't allowed to stay in the village for longer then it took him to report because at one time, or so I was told, he did experiments on humans. It didn't matter, though. Our village had almost no weaknesses, but he knew them. It was Orochimaru that led the assault on my city. It was him that killed the old man. It was him that killed everyone I ever knew…"

Hinata could see Naruto's hands gripping the railing. He was squeezing so hard the wood was starting to splinter. She placed a hand on his shoulder and he immediately relaxed. She had to smile a little at that. She was sort of… happy that she had that effect on him.

"I understand now. Naruto… I'm sorry for your village, but you do realize that when you went crazy and chased after that man it nearly got both of us killed. And even though it didn't, they know who we are and that we have the pendant. They know what we look like and what some of our abilities are. We could have gotten out of their without being seen, but because we didn't it is going to be a whole lot harder for us to do what we need to do."

Naruto was staring at his hands, his face had gone pale.

_Shit! She's right! I… I could have just ruined everything. I wasn't thinking! Even if I had gotten Orochimaru it wouldn't have meant anything if I had lost Hinata…_

_Wait…_

_That didn't come out right. If this had been a mission for Konoha, I would be punished with endless D-ranked missions for failing it so blatantly. She's absolutely right! I nearly killed her._

"Hinata… I…"

"I know. I also know that if I was in your place, I probably would have done the same. I forgive you."

They both just stared at the slowly diminishing land mass. Nothing more needed to be said. He was sorry, she forgave him. And… for some reason… Naruto felt a little different. He felt like… like the hard shell he had been building up since that day long ago when everything he ever loved had been destroyed had begun to crack.

And it wasn't really a bad feeling.

Especially when it was this woman that was doing the cracking.

Somewhere in his mind a voice shouted to stop it, to go back to the emotionless hunter he had once been. If he kept his hate inside he would surely have the power to defeat Orochimaru. But a voice he hadn't heard in ages seemed to be overpowering it with a calmer voice.

The voice reminded him, strangely, of Hinata.

"Naruto, how long will it take to get to the Land of Lightning?"

"At least a day and a half. I would expect us to reach the town of fishermen at dusk tomorrow."

Naruto glanced over at Hinata for a split second. The anger that had been in her face a minute ago was gone, replaced with serenity. Naruto almost started to stare, but turned away. It only then came to him that when they had first met he hadn't been able to read her emotions at all.

He smiled.

It seemed this relationship was mutually beneficial.

They stayed like that in silence, watching the Land of Water vanish into the distant clouds.

* * *

Life on the ship that was built on the creature's back was not rich and decadent, but very simple and small. Only a few other people had been able to get on the boat after going through, from the complaints that were going around, very strict security. A small family with a young boy was going to visit relatives, an elderly couple were returning home, and a few others rode the Windhorse to the Land of Lightning. Naruto and Hinata spent most of the time out on the viewing area, mainly because the cold weather and occasional cloud kept the others inside. They didn't want any questions being asked. Time went slowly and peacefully.

They only had to go inside once for the midday meal, where Hinata made friends with the small five year old boy that was traveling with his parents to visit his grandparents.

They sat and chatted while the parents talked with the other passengers. Naruto noticed, happily, that they turned every once and a while to smile at Hinata and their child. They must have felt he was in good hands.

"Nata, what you gonna do in Lightnin'?" The child had a small lisp that made her name almost impossible for him to say, so Hinata just shortened it.

"Well, me and Naruto are going to sight-see."

"Naruto?" The boy looked over at Naruto, who was listening intently to every conversation in the room. Naruto didn't notice the boy as he ran up to him. He only stopped his staring into space when the boy pulled on his leg.

"Hello?"

"You take good care of Nata! She's nice."

Naruto looked over to a blushing Hinata, and gave a small smirk.

"Don't worry, I'll take good care of 'Nata'."

Hinata's blush worsened, but the child seemed placated. He nodded seriously before skipping back to his place and once again chatting with Hinata about coloring, hide-and-go-seek, and the other important aspects of his life.

It was this conversation that caused Naruto to do something he had never done before.

* * *

The sun was beginning to set when he found himself and Hinata once again alone. The little boy had gone off to play with the red fox leaving Naruto and Hinata alone again. Naruto was enjoying the view of the clouds beginning to turn red and gold in the setting sun. It contrasted to the depths of the sky.

It was then that Naruto decided to look down. Below, in the fading light, he could just barely make out a sickly colored cloud. It was purple, similar to a poison cloud he had seen medical ninja produce. He knew what it was, everyone knew.

The toxic clouds.

The toxic clouds covered the 'bottom' of the sky. No living thing had ever passed through those clouds and lived to tell the tale. They coated the bottom of the known sky as far as one could ever fly. Only at one point did they converge into a massive storm that, amazingly, marked the middle of the five lands of the sky. No one thought it was coincidence, but as of yet no one had come up with a logical reason short of 'It is the Kami's will'. Naruto knew what his village believed. They believed that the legendary earth, now covered in a poison mist, was below. It was there, they believed, that the Kyuubi and the Man would fight for eternity, the Kyuubi producing poison to keep others from helping.

Naruto wasn't sure about that. After all, it was just a man.

Naruto turned as he heard what sounded like a short cry followed by a scream. The fox was running towards him, without the boy.

Without the boy…

"Someone, help! My son!"

"Hinata…"

"Naruto! That boy is hanging off the back of the ship!" He knew she had her Byakugan active. Instantly he was running towards the back of the ship with all his speed. It only took a moment, but he was already too late. Naruto pushed through the people standing a the rail and leaned over the side just in time to see the child's hands slip off the rope he had been holding on to and begin falling.

Now, Naruto had a few choices. He could do what any normal person would do. Stay put and cry later. Or he could do what a stupid person would do, which is jump after him and die.

Or…

Naruto stuck his hands into his pockets, instantly coming out with ten wires. He gave his hands a twist as he threw them, causing all ten wires to wrap together as they went around a sturdy looking metal pole near him. The claws went around a few times before sinking in with a clang. Hopefully it wouldn't cut the pole in half with all ten wires together.

Then Naruto jumped.

He had a little more then two hundred meters to catch the kid before he ran out of wire. A surprising amount, but a ninja prepared for all situations, even jumping from a height of two hundred meters.

He nose dived, all the time wondering how the hell he was being forced to do this twice in one day, chasing the child that was flailing around and screaming. At least he was flat against the wind, reducing his speed. Naruto dove as fast as he could. But he could see already that he was going to come up short.

Naruto took all the wire in his other hand and reached with the other, not caring that when he ran out of wire it might rip his shoulder off. He only thought one thing as the boy came closer and closer.

_I must save him!_

His single mindedness wasn't going to help, he felt the wire running short in he hidden spools under his clothes that he wore on his upper arms. The wire got thicker as it came down to let him know he was running low. Naruto could almost reach out and grab the kid.

Then a third body came flying even faster past him.

The glowing wings of lilac pumped the woman past him and he saw her spin in mid air before grabbing the child with one hand and throwing her other hand to catch Naruto's. Naruto grabbed it and instantly started channeling chakra into both of his hands to both slow his decent and make sure he couldn't let go of Hinata.

One of the last things he saw before he felt searing pain in his shoulder was the wind swept tears in the eyes of Hinata Hyuga, and the smile of thanks on her face.

Then his world exploded in pain.

He felt his right arm get pulled up, nearly causing him to lose his grip on Hinata, and his left arm was pulled out of its socket with a pop. Then, before a split second could pass, the arm holding Hinata and the child also popped out of its socket.

He was now suspending in mid air by the spools on his arms and the chakra in his hands. He no longer could grip either strong enough to hold him up.

He was momentarily blinded by the pain of it.

After a few seconds of just being suspended in agonizing pain he managed to hear the voice of an angel talking to him.

"Naruto! Naruto, are you ok?"

It was Hinata. The child was crying, but no longer screaming, and was wrapped around her body like it was the only lifeline he had to life.

It was.

Naruto just grunted in reply. He wasn't sure his voice would even work with his pain. He saw that Hinata was still flapping her wings, easing the weight on his useless arms. He wasn't even sure how he was able to still be using the chakra he was. Only a half day ago he had been passed out from chakra exhaustion, and he wasn't all-powerful.

His eyes drifted to the hand holding the wire.

Then his eyes went wide.

The chakra around his hand wasn't the usual blue.

It was an angry red.

He glanced down at his other hand it was still blue. Hinata wouldn't be able to see his upper hand.

_What the hell…_

Suddenly Naruto was hit in the head by a rope ladder.

"Damn it!"

Naruto cringed as the pain grew worse for a moment before it eased off. Hinata had grabbed onto the ladder and was climbing as fast as she could. The wind was making the rope ladder very difficult to climb, but Naruto watched as she used her wings to make it much easier.

But it didn't matter to him. He didn't have a jealous bone in his body… that wasn't broken from how he felt.

Naruto just held on like that, staring at the ladder next to him and the hand that was slowly being encased in blue chakra instead of red. He figured it was because he was no longer using his other hand to hold Hinata and now he had a little chakra at his disposal. He wasn't really worried about falling, after all, the spools that held the wire were theoretically good up to a couple hundred tons. He was more worried about the pain in his arm if he let go and just let the wires support him.

He saw the ladder swing a little and he knew that someone was coming down to get him, probably Hinata. He let his chakra drop as the lilac wings came into view, worried about the red that was slowly seeping into his blue as he felt himself run out of chakra.

"Naruto…" Her face was right next to him. It was worried. He didn't see why, he felt fine. Well, fine for having two shoulders out of joint and at least a torn muscle or two. Even a ninja couldn't physically survive everything.

She carefully grabbed him around the stomach with one arm. He could see the beads of sweat glistening on her face. Keeping her wings up and using chakra to help lift him were taking their toll on her.

She didn't speak as she carefully went up the ladder. The wire wrapped itself around the spools as he went up, locking as it went. The accent took almost ten minutes, mainly because Hinata was getting tired and Naruto was slightly heavier than a five year old. They had almost reached the top, he could see the ship, when he heard cheering.

"They aren't…"

"Relax, you deserve it."

Naruto gasped in pain as he was pulled over the side of the ship by the other passengers. Hinata tumbled over right next to him and they both decided that that was a perfectly fine place to stop moving. Naruto passed out from the pain of being dragged the last few feet by his arms and Hinata passed out from chakra exhaustion. The people had no choice but to celebrate without them.

* * *

She was fading in and out of consciousness. There were voices, of course. There always had to be voices. If she wasn't born and bred to be a dignified lady of the Hyuga she would have considered grumbling and covering her head with her pillow.

A very nice and soft pillow.

She didn't feel like she could move her arms anyway. In her near conscious state she began to remember exactly why.

_Screams._

_Naruto diving off the ship._

_Me diving off the ship._

_Catching the child._

_Climbing that two hundred meter ladder twice…_

Hinata's eyes began to open, but she closed them immediately. There was too much light, even though she could tell she was now inside. Chakra exhaustion was nothing to sneer at. Anyone capable of actually using their chakra knew about the dangers of chakra exhaustion. Many people had lost their lives to it or to doing something under its effects.

And she was very much nearly dead of it. She had been pressed this far only once before, when she had been forced by her family to do so, so she knew what it felt like to be so close to death.

_At least the pillow is soft._

Hinata managed a tired smile without opening her eyes. It was a very soft bed and pillow. She was very glad of that. Chakra exhaustion caused the slightest discomfort to turn into a major pain, but this bed…

She took a deep inhale.

_Smells nice, too._

Thinking being the only action that didn't bring discomfort, her thoughts turned to what had happened.

_I never thought Naruto would have ever done that. He nearly killed himself, even closer then I did. I saw… no… I heard his shoulders pop out of their sockets. And his face when I came back down… those scars on his face had grown a little. His eyes… they looked different. I couldn't tell because I was so tired myself, but…_

_The pupils looked different… more… animalistic._

_But that doesn't matter. It was probably just my imagination. I'll wake up and he'll be fine. His arms are probably healed already. And he'll probably be all business again, just like in the sewer._

_Naruto!_

Hinata sat up too quickly and immediately felt the effects. She almost passed out before she fell back to the bed. Her head was swimming, and the excited voices around her didn't help. One higher pitched one, though, pierced through her foggy mind.

"Nata! You're awake!"

Hinata peeked open one eye to see the boy she and Naruto had saved next to the bed. At least he was ok.

"Yeah, I'm ok. Where's Naruto? Is he ok?" The boy giggled a little before pointing at something directly behind her.

"You sleeping on him, Nata!"

"I'm…"

Hinata's other eye went wide and she saw that her rather comfortable pillow was clothed in a black shirt and she had her arm around the waist of a blonde haired man. If she had had the energy to move, she would have. But, as it was, she could only blush. The adults also in the room seemed to laugh at this, and Hinata wouldn't have been surprised if they had done it on purpose. They had given the impression of… lovers. Going off alone outside. Going out of the way to avoid others. And the way they had been trading glances at the dinner.

Hinata blushed thinking of all of the misconceptions they could have gotten.

As it was, though, she didn't have the energy to move her head off of his chest, and the hand of his that was around her own waist just stayed right where it was.

She didn't have the will to move it.

He was, after all, a very nice pillow.


	8. New Friend

Chapter 7: New Friend

* * *

When Hinata and Naruto regained their strength, which happened to be only a few hours in Naruto's case like usual and was half a day in the case of Hinata. They were nearly at their destination when Hinata found the energy to do anything more then just lay in bed. For that one half of a day both her and Naruto were nearly worshiped by the other passengers. Even the people that had stared at them while whispering about such a 'young couple' went out of their way to interrupt Naruto's watch over Hinata in order to shake their hands.

Naruto, naturally, just shrugged it off like it had been nothing. His mind was on other things.

Like the color of his chakra and what it could mean.

Hinata, on the other hand, rather enjoyed the attention. Not that she was letting it go to her head or anything. A more correct statement would be that Hinata enjoyed being with people. Naruto could tell that she must be used to having a lot of people around. She seemed to enjoy talking with everyone that came in, if just for a little bit. When the child they had saved visited them she would always light up. She enjoyed being with others.

It was something that Naruto and Hinata did not share.

Or at least it was something that Naruto thought was different about him. To tell the truth, even he would admit that being with people wasn't half bad in his earlier years. He had had friends and acquaintances in his village and he had always enjoyed spending time with them. But after it had been destroyed nearly every town he came to got to see his healing ability at work or some of his other talents and instantly thought he was dangerous and a 'freak'. Being called a freak by everyone you meet…

It leaves impressions.

So Naruto just sat in the corner of their room watching as people came to visit, making sure that no one bothered her too much. The kid they saved nearly spent the entire night with them while they had been unconscious, and when they woke up he was too tired to stay awake. He had fallen asleep on the side of Hinata's bed and when his mother had apologized and tried to take him away Hinata had insisted it was fine. So now he rested next to Hinata.

They had almost reached their destination according to the captain, who had come in to congratulate and thank them, when Hinata turned to Naruto.

"Naruto…"

"Do you need something?" Naruto spun from looking out the window towards Hinata. His mind was pretty much consumed by the chakra problem, but that wasn't as important in his mind as Hinata right now.

"No… I just wanted to tell you I think that what you did… jumping off the ship like that… it was the bravest thing I'd ever seen you do. I didn't expect you to do that…"

"Well, the fact that you jumped off was slightly more surprising to me." Naruto looked into her eyes. "Why would you do something like that? You had no idea whether or not you would be able to save the kid, and you had no plan to get back up."

"I… I really didn't think of it. I saw you jump and…"

"Hinata, you seem to be the braver one here."

Hinata blushed.

"And the more foolish. Don't do something like that again."

Hinata sighed. Naruto wasn't the most tactful person, but he meant well. She could tell he had just been worried. To tell the truth, she had been on the verge of breaking down for those few seconds after he jumped over the edge. No one on the ship could speak. They just stared at the edge where Naruto had just vanished over. Hinata remembered very clearly that she hadn't been able to even think for a few seconds. And then…

She had followed.

There was something about the very idea that Naruto would sacrifice, or almost sacrifice, his life for a stranger… it wasn't what she expected from what he had appeared to be when she had met him. It was almost like he had a hidden personality blocked by his harder exterior that was just now coming out. Like when he saved her, but even that could have been played off as just part of his job. This new incident… this new Naruto… he was a good man.

Naruto didn't notice because he had already turned back to the window, but Hinata blushed just slightly.

* * *

"Now docking! All passengers prepare to disembark."

It wasn't much time before they finally arrived in the Land of Lightning. Both were capable of walking, thankfully, as their ship came into the port of the small fishing village of wave. At first glance most people would think that the village was just a bunch of run down cottages home to poor fishing families. And that was most that anyone ever saw if you were just passing through. But Naruto could see it in the way the buildings were cared for despite their age and in the way people seemed to know everyone around. This town was a home and the life of people. It was a warm and cozy town.

But that was the last time Naruto had been here.

Now it looked abandoned.

They had disembarked, after the rest of the passengers bid them farewell, and had gone through the small warehouse, for when supplies were shipped in, that connected the docks to the town. Upon entering the main village square they found… absolutely nothing.

The town looked deserted. No people, no boats, no nothing. It was the middle of the day and no one was around at all. Hinata swore she saw a crumpled piece of paper roll across the town in a warm dry wind.

"Naruto, is it normally…"

"No… something is wrong."

They walked across the empty square to where the boats should have been. It was there that Naruto saw something that shouldn't have been there. Or rather, something that wasn't there that should have been.

Water.

Where the Great Celestial River used to flow now only a small creak ran through an absolutely massive ravine. The boats that should have been there were actually there, just sitting in the mud below the dock with no water to float on. Naruto couldn't understand it. Last time he had been here the water had been a calm river so wide it was hard to see the other side. Millions of fish swam in its waters providing this town with its only source of income and, therefore, food. Now Naruto could count the amount of fish in the river.

Zero.

"The river…"

"It's more of a stream."

"It used to be massive."

"Where are all the people if the river…"

"Most are in the tavern. They stay indoors due to Imperial patrols. Who're you?"

Naruto spun, unconsciously placing himself between the person that had snuck up behind them and Hinata. He was glad he did when he saw exactly who it was. He drew a knife.

"You!" Both him and the man he was facing looked shocked, though one looked less shocked then the other. Hinata got a glimpse of him. The man was wearing a long cloak over most of his body and only his face above his mouth showed. And even then he wore sunglasses.

Hinata was confused for a moment by the man's gloves, they looked very weird… it was almost like they were… moving!

_Those aren't gloves… those are bugs!_

Hinata jumped back into a fighting stance with Naruto. The man also jumped back, but held his bug swarmed hands up in the air in defense.

"Stop. I do not wish to fight."

"The hell you don't. Last time I saw you…"

"I swore to kill you." The man lowered his hands and Hinata was both slightly intrigued and disturbed as she watched the insects crawl under his coat where she assumed they had come from. Naruto still held his knife in a guarded stance.

"Why the sudden change of heart?"

"Because you were right… back then…"

Naruto sighed and lowered the kunai. Hinata took that as a sign to also lower her guard. The man turned and motioned for them to follow. Naruto silently did.

"Naruto?"

"It's ok, Hinata. Aburame is a man of his word."

* * *

They ended up in a smallish home that was meant for one. It was a single room with a table, a bed, and a place for cooking and food storage. The man known only to Hinata only as Aburame walked over to the small bed and had a seat on it, motioning for them to take the only two chairs at his table.

"So… Naruto, is it? Last time it was a different name."

"This is my real one. And this…"

"I'm Hinata. And you are..." Hinata was completely confused still.

"Aburame Shino. Last of the Aburame clan."

"He is the reason I didn't want to come back here. But last I knew you were still with the palace guard, elite forces. What are you doing here?"

Shino took the hood of his cloak off revealing tall black hair.

"I couldn't stay… after I learned the truth about my…_friend_." Hinata almost shivered. There was so much animosity and hatred in that one word that she felt some killing intent radiate off the insect user.

"I don't regret it."

"I don't either… anymore."

"Ano… I don't mean to pry… but I do not understand what you are talking about."

Naruto sighed.

"It was a few years ago when I started hiring myself out as a hunter."

"An assassin." Shino chipped in. His voice was emotionless, but you could tell there was some hurt in his voice.

"On this mission I was an assassin. I had been sent by my employer to infiltrate the royal guard of the Lord of Lightning and kill a traitor that had been feeding information to dissenting groups. The request had come right after a nearly successful attack on the Lord…"

* * *

"… _I know we lost a lot of good men after this recent terrorist attack, so the Lord has hired some additional guardsmen. Most will arrive tomorrow, but here is the first of the new royal guards. Assuma Iruka."_

_Shino glanced quickly at the blond boy standing at attention before turning to the side._

"_We don't need any mercs in the royal guard, what is the Lord thinking?"_

_The man he had addressed turned to him with a smile._

"_Worried that he'll take your place, Shino?"_

"_Never, Kiba. I just don't see why we need some…"_

"_Because we are running low on men, and when we run out, who will protect the Lord?"_

_Shino just grunted and turned back to watch this Iruka character shake hands with the captain._

_His eyes might have been blue, but all Shino saw in them was cold hard death. This boy, barely a man, was no good, he could tell._

"_We have enough problems already. There is one traitor among us at least, why add a potential second one who is paid with money?"_

_Kiba just smirked with his fang like teeth sticking over his lower lip._

"_Mercs are loyal to money, not ideals. You might be right about that…"_

* * *

"It wasn't long before most everyone, including Kiba, accepted me into their group. Only Shino was holding out. Naturally, at first, I suspected him."

* * *

_Shino was seated at a table in the mess hall alone. Most of the men were on patrol, but the rest were at the table across the room. The table with that yellow haired twit._

_Even Kiba was over there. His best friend._

_It wasn't all that impressive when he had almost single handedly killed those four men going after the Lord's wife. And now he just sat there basking in the attention of the entire company._

_Actually, if he admitted to himself, the blond didn't seem to even acknowledge the other guards at all. He just sat and ate, and when he was done he got up and left, probably to tend to his weapons._

"_Shino, why weren't you over with the others?" _

_Shino turned to see Kiba sit down next to him. He just snorted._

"_Ah, I see. You don't like Iruka much, do you?"_

"_No."_

"_But you saw what he did to those revolutionaries…"_

"_Don't call them that. You make it sound like they have a just cause. Those scum, attacking the Lord, the most noble man in all the five elemental nations. He would sacrifice his life to save anyone of us if he didn't know his place."_

_Kiba grew silent for a moment._

"_Maybe."_

"_What do you mean, maybe?"_

"_Of course, you're right. Those damn scum. How dare they attack the Lord."_

_Kiba left him soon after that._

* * *

"I should have suspected it then, but I did not."

* * *

_Shino was the best, according to some._

_He might have been a new addition to the guard, but his youth made him no less deadly. Not even the captain of the guard could beat him one hundred percent of the time. _

_He was the last of his line, a line of people who had evolved slightly different then most of the rest of the world. While he still had the traditional wings of chakra, he also had various holes all over his body that could open or close on command. The Aburame Clan became this way after centuries of living in harmony with the insects of the Mirage Forest of the Land of Earth. These holes connected small tunnels that traveled over most of the Aburame's body, which became the home of insects._

_The Aburame made this a tradition, and each Aburame kept a different kind of insect. What made Shino so amazing as a battler was that his insects had a near perfect mental connection with his through his chakra and, on the other side of things, his insects were a special new breed of consumption insects. His bugs could consume chakra and flesh at the same time, letting them multiply faster then any other battle insect species. It kept his swarm large and even if it was diminished to only the ones he always kept in reserve he could have a brand new colony in one day._

_This is a lesson that Assuma Iruka learned the hard way sparring with Shino. The blond had underestimated Shino off the bat and knew nothing about him. Despite the fight he put up he had lost the battle from the start when Shino had placed insects secretly on his back and it had only taken a minute or two for the blond to be nearly drained._

_Granted, in those two minutes Shino had nearly been killed by various weapons._

_But the point was that he had won. _

_Shino bent down next to the panting form of Iruka._

"_You underestimated me, and you paid for it. Do not underestimate the royal guard of Lightning. I do not trust you."_

_The blond just panted, but Shino could almost see a surprised look on his face…_

* * *

"It was then that I realized that the traitor couldn't be Shino. The trust comment got me as well. If Shino trusted someone, they were safe from his wrath. That's why I started investigating Kiba, the closest one to Shino."

* * *

_Shino had been assigned night patrol with Kiba. It was a moonless night that damned night. They were amiably marching along the battlements, just talking like they had for so many times before it. Kiba was a little less talkative this night though, always nervously looking off into the night._

"_Kiba, don't worry. They wouldn't dare attack the castle directly."  
Kiba gave a nervous chuckle before leaning back against the castle wall. _

"_Yeah, you're right. You were always…"_

_Shino had turned around, but spun when his friend did not complete his sentence. When he turned, it was to the most horrible scene he could have imagined. Kiba was clutching three knife wounds to his heart area and a sword was stuck through his gut. Holding the sword was the last and first person he would have suspected to do such a thing._

"_Assuma! Kiba!"_

_Instantly the air was filled with the buzzing of insects as they flew at top speed towards the blond. But before they reached…_

_He jumped off the wall and into the night._

"_Come back here! I swear… I swear you will pay for this with your LIFE!"_

_He never noticed the knife Kiba himself had dropped._

* * *

"Was Kiba the…"

"Yes. After he died the attacks were less frequent and less coordinated. When we finally captured the leader in their last futile raid I interrogated him, as he was the only one I hadn't been allowed to outright kill. I thought they had hired you. But in my interrogation I found out the information. That night a raid on the castle had been planned. Kiba was going to kill me and get them in. Assuma… Naruto… had killed all of the infiltrators before coming to kill the traitor."

"I learned from them exactly who it was. I had suspected him, but couldn't act without proof. When I knew, I finished my job."

"I do not blame you."

Hinata sat back in her chair.

"Wow. Such a sad story."

"No." Shino shock his head, the only movement he had made the entire telling of the story. "Kiba was a traitor, he deserved to die for the deaths of the innocents he helped cause. I am… grateful to Naruto for exposing him. I disgraced myself by being friends with such a man. Now I live hear, the quiet life of a fisherman. Or… at least I should be."

"What happened to the river?"

Shino sighed.

"No one knows. About a month ago it was fine, then over the course of one day it became like this. I wanted to go up river and see if something was blocking it but both the town's people and the imperials tell me not to…"

"You mentioned them before, why are the imperials here?"

"Potential treaty in the capital. I don't know enough about it, but I think it is a forced treaty. The Lord would never ally himself with those scum under normal circumstances."

Naruto turned to Hinata. By now a message had probably been relayed to the imperials in Lightning. They would be noticed on sight in an instant.

"Why won't the villagers let you go upriver?"

"Superstition. They say the Lord of the River is up there, angering him can bring floods. Legend goes is that he is guardian to the ocean."

"Ocean?" Naruto looked slightly confused, but Hinata looked shocked.

"The ocean, a body of water so large that no human could see across, swim across, or even sail across in a week."

"Sounds like a load of shit to me."

"He's right, Naruto. I've heard the legend of the ocean. When the land was still on the surface of the earth there were large bodies of water separating them from each other. It was called the ocean. But… it would be impossible for the ocean to get up here…"

"Not according to our town's legend. The ocean was sealed by Kami into an entirely different dimension…"

"Now your just joking around."

"… and allowed for a way out of the dimension up the river near the upper edge of the Land of Lightning. No airship has ever sailed there and returned to tell the tail. I, personally, dismissed the idea right off the bat. But some facts always eat at me."

"Like?"

"This is the only saline river in the world. The ocean was saline. There are an endless supply of fish in this river. Much more then could ever truly be supported by it. It implies that this river is connected to something much bigger."

"Coincidental." Naruto scoffed at the idea. But when he turned he noticed Hinata deep in thought.

"Naruto… lets go have a look."

"What?"

"I'll go too."

"WHAT?"

"What's the problem, Naruto?"

"I… you don't actually believe this… _myth_, do you Hinata?"

"Maybe… maybe not. But this town is in trouble anyway. Can't we see if we can fix it? Maybe this town's predicament is what is causing this false treaty to be brought about."

"This town does supply a large amount of food to all corners of Lightning. This incident has had a large impact on food supplies. Your wife might have a point. I am happy you finally got someone to act as your conscience."

Shino's comment froze them both as stiff as boards. It took a moment for any of them to recover. Naruto was the first, as Hinata was having trouble controlling a massive blush. It didn't help that she had actually thought about something in that general area during the trip here.

"She's not my wife." Naruto barely got the words out. It was like he couldn't breathe right. Or… he couldn't stand to hear himself say what he knew was true…

_Where did that come from?_

"Ah… Gomen. I assumed too much. Then…"

"I'm his employer."

"Oh… bodyguard, I assume."

"Hai."

The room was silent for a moment. Everyone felt too awkward to speak. It was only when the little red fox started growling towards the door did anyone do anything.

"Your pet?"

"Tag-along."

Suddenly there was pounding on the door. Everyone jumped to their feet.

"Open up, this is the imperial guard!"

Shino was about to open the door when he turned to look at Naruto and Hinata.

And couldn't find them.

"Open up now!"

Shino opened the door. Outside were about twice the usual imperials patrolling the area. The man in front of him sneered at him before holding out a piece of paper. On the paper were hand drawn pictures of a blond man with stripes on his cheeks and indigo haired young woman.

"Have you seen these people? They are wanted for murder, attempted assassination, and treason."

"No."

The man looked over his shoulder and into his house. Shino shifted to block his view. He frowned.

"I need to search the house."

"No, you don't."

"What?"

"Leave right now before I get angry and I won't file complaints against you in the capital."

The man sneered again, but this one seemed to Shino to be slightly humored.

"Fine. It's not like it would matter much anyway…"

Shino watched the man turn away before shutting the door. He took a few steps back before Naruto, with Hinata in his arms, jumped down from above his door.

"You didn't mention you were on the run."

"Does it matter?"

"Not to me. What bothered me was the way the man treated my threat of going to the capital. He seemed… humored. Like it was an empty threat."

"Well then, lets go upriver and see if we can see what's blocking the river, or this Lord of the River, or maybe even the ocean. It doesn't really matter as long as the imperials no longer have leverage for a treaty, right?"

"Right."

"That's all fine and dandy, but how are we supposed to get upriver anyway? Walk in the muddy river bed? And how do we get past the imperials?"

Shino's mouth was still covered, but you could tell he was smiling.

"Hinata-san, you forget that I was once an elite guard of the Lord of Lightning. We are always prepared."


	9. Damn Dam

AN: So, it's been a while. Here is the next chapter though. And for anyone who wanted to know...

Chaos is going to be updated soon.

* * *

Chapter 8: Damn Dam

* * *

"What… what are they?"

Shino had led Naruto and Hinata out a secret exit that led under his house to a storage shed next door. When he got there they had been surprised to see that the shed was filled with weapons of all kinds, and many other tools. Shino immediately went to the back of the large shed where a large tarp covered three objects. He removed it to reveal something Hinata had never seen before. Naruto had, however.

"They're imperial. Small personnel carriers that were deemed too little armored for actual use. The fools never saw that these things made up for the lack of protection with actual speed. Imperials are like that, though. They would rather sit in armored box that can go a single kilometer an hour then be out in the open and capable of actual movement."

"I take it that you disagree with imperial ideals in that regard."

"I disagree with more than their ideals, Aburame."

"Hinata-san, these are imperial hover-sleds. They were the first objects developed with imperial flight technology, but, as Naruto said, they were abandoned because a flight unit of this size couldn't protect the rider. Imperials are all about surviving…"

"To lord over you another day."

"And because the controls are slightly… erratic. They actually needed to bring their wings out to control the things correctly. A person with good reflexes wouldn't need them, though. Lazy imperials."

"So?"

"The whole concept of imperial ideals is that they are higher then their biology. Most Imperials never use their wings."

"Never?"

"Never. They developed artificial ways to fly. After all, why strain yourself when you could strain others?"

Hinata walked over to one. It appeared to be just a black metal plank a little longer then a person would be tall. There was a glass shield where the controls were on the front. It didn't even look capable of flight. It didn't even have wings!

"They don't look like much."

Shino reached down and flipped a few switches on the control panels of each. A high pitched whine filled the air.

"I assume you can fly, Naruto?"

"One of these? Won't know till I try."

"Fine. Hinata-san, hop on and try."

Naruto jumped onto the sled, laying on his stomach before gripping the controls with his hands. The plank jumped up to nearly Hinata's eye level. Hinata lay on her own sled before doing the same as Naruto had. Her own sled shot a few feet into the air. She was very confused for a moment, but gradually was able to feel what the sled was doing. It was weird, pulling her two handles to the left to turn in a circle.

"If you want to go accelerate then grip the handles tight, loosen the grip to go slower. Push forwards to dive, back to climb, but remember that the max height is determined by the weight…"

"Got it."

"Naruto, I don't. What was that, Shino?"

"OPEN UP! I know there's someone in there! Open up in the name of the imperial guard!"

Shino jumped on his sled. Hinata gingerly tried to do some of the things Shino had told her.

"Hinata, go after Shino. I'll take the rear."

"We're going to break out of here fast, so get ready."

"Hey, open up or we're breaking through. Get that ram ready…"

Shino grabbed a small ball from the wall next to him. He pressed a small button on it before tossing it to the door.

"Close your eyes and get ready."

Hinata slammed her eyes closed.

A few seconds later an explosion rocked the sled.

"GO!"

* * *

"What the hell do you bastards think you're doing? This town is under my jurisdiction by order of the emperor himself! You have no right to be searching…"

"Shut the hell up, Uchiha. Why don't you file a complaint against my superior officer?"

Uchiha Itachi glared at the man in front of him. The young officer of the imperial guard was the chosen imperial diplomat to this area of the land of lightning. It was an incredibly low ranking station, but Itachi took his job seriously. And what these guards were doing was blatantly against the law.

His eyes flashed red for a moment, but instantly went back to the angry black.

"That's right, Uchiha. You know just as well as I that one more mess up on your part is going to get you court-martialed like the traitor…"

"Before you finish that sentence, remember exactly how I got stationed here in the first place."

The man went silent for a moment, a brief flash a fear passing over his eyes. It was gone in a moment though.

"Just stay out of our way and I won't mention this altercation in my report, Uchiha scum."  
Itachi was just about ready to knock the man across the square when they turned to see a large explosion blow the front of a shed down. Itachi was about to go over there and arrest the men responsible on the spot, but almost immediately an old hover sled flew out of the shed at breakneck speed. It was closely followed by two more. But all this wasn't what surprised Itachi. No.

What surprised Itachi was the blond haired man flying the last sled.

He purposefully ran two of the imperials over, breaking ribs and possibly killing one of them as he was hit in the head, before throwing a familiar style of knife with a note attached to it in his direction.

Itachi's eyes suddenly went wide before he instinctively grabbed the imperial captain next to him and threw the man at the knife. They collided in midair.

And exploded.

Itachi was glad for the chaos around them then, glad that no one saw him block the explosive note with the imperial captain, and most importantly…

Itachi smirked as he watched the sleds vanish upriver.

Finally he had seen the man he had been waiting for five years to meet again.

* * *

Shino led the trio at full speed, about 60 km/h, up the muddy river valley. Behind him was Hinata, who was now flying directly next to Naruto. She had soon found out that flying straight was her best bet, after making a fast turn that had set her into a spin that had nearly crashed her into a tree on the bank of the river. Naruto had carefully attached a wire to her sled to stop it right before that had happened. Now Hinata was trying her best to not turn at all.

She would have much rather walked if speed hadn't been necessary.

It was hard to yell over the wind, but thankfully Naruto was close.

"About how much longer till we reach the head of the river?"

They had been flying for about ten minutes and if what Hinata knew about the nation of lightning was correct, they had to be approaching the end of the island. That, and the river bed had been getting continuously less wide and more deep, as if the river was coming to a head soon.

Naruto, instead of just answering, spun his sled in a barrel roll over her and as his face passed hers she heard him calmly speak.

"Soon."

Hinata almost laughed. Naruto was really enjoying his ride… which she couldn't really hold against him. It was probably the only flight he ever really got without wings.

She stopped thinking about that, though, as they came around a small turn to see an enormous wall right in front of them. A wall they were approaching at 60km/h.

Shino immediately broke off to the left, shooting up the river's empty bank before he deftly shut the sled off and landed in the trees unseen.

Hinata wasn't sure she could do that.

"Use your wings."

Hinata immediately summoned her wings. The added drag nearly ripped her from the sled, but she had already slowed just enough so it did not. She carefully turned and went up the bank just barely missing the massive wall. When she reached the top she let the sled go and slide off the back, prepared to make a rolling stop, when she noticed that a tree was directly in her way. Hitting it at 30km/h was not going to be good at all. She was just about to panic when she was grabbed around the waist from behind.

"Good job."

* * *

Naruto had been following Hinata very closely to make sure she didn't fall when she turned. He was impressed again by her effortless control of her wings. While he had the reaction speed to easily control his sled, she had such absolute control of her chakra that she didn't need the split second reaction time he did. She skimmed the wall perfectly, and ditched the sled at just the right time to avoid the worst fall.

But he didn't want her to get hurt at all.

As she jumped from her own sled he jumped from his, grabbing her around her waist and putting himself between her and the tree she had not seen was in her way.

"Good job."

His back slammed into the tree, stopping him cold. The pain that racked his body as instantaneous and that was that. They fell to the ground to have Shino run up.

"Naruto, Hinata-san! Are you alright?"

"I'm… fine. But Naruto."

Naruto groaned before Hinata jumped out of his lap where she had fallen. Naruto merely stood up while leaning against the tree and cracked his back.

"Yeah, I'm good."

"Resilient, aren't we?"

"Yes, we are. Now would you please explain, Aburame, why there is a massive dam in the middle of the river?"

They all turned, now that they were on top of the river, to see that there was, indeed, a massive dam blocking a huge amount of water. The massive wall was holding back what appeared to be an absolutely gigantic quantity of water. Naruto could barely see across the massive lake it created.

"Is that an ocean?"

"No, that's a preplanned attempt to destroy the Land of Lightning."

Naruto spun to see a very pissed off Aburame. Shino was literally buzzing with anger as his insects shared his emotions. Hinata stepped back a few steps.

"I must remove it."

Shino took a step forwards only to find Naruto in his way. Instantly the buzz intensified.

"Move."

"Aburame, think. If you attack right out in the open all three of us are going to end up dead and that dam isn't going to go anywhere."

"What then? Give up?"

Both Hinata and Shino were shocked when a moment later Naruto punched Shino so hard he flew back into a tree. Shino was stunned but in a second he was back on his feet with insects flying around him.

"Aburame… Shino. I would never just give up. We need a plan."

Shino stopped for a moment. His insects still angrily buzzed. Hinata was watching, afraid that a fight was about to break out. Suddenly, Shino's insects calmed and entered his body again. Shino himself hadn't changed his expression at all from the complete stoic one he always had held.

"Fine. What is the plan."

Hinata subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hinata, what do you see?"

Hinata calmly closed her eyes and breathed out. Shino watched with slightly raised eyebrows as the veins around Hinata's eyes raised slightly. When here eyes opened they looked much more intense then they had before.

"Kekkei Genkai?"

"I know you won't have a problem, right Aburame?" Naruto was almost threatening Shino. He merely shrugged.

"Why would a man with bugs living in his body have a problem with a blood limit? I should have guessed, though, with the eye color and all…"

"It's solid."

"What?"

Hinata spun as her eyes went back to normal.

"The dam. Most damns filter the water for power or some other reason. This is just a large massive wall of rock. On the other side is a guard house…"

"You can see through the dam? And across it?"

"Hai. There are four guards, but that isn't the problem."

"There's a problem?"

"Hai. Look."  
Hinata turned to the lake where they all noticed something that they hadn't a moment before.

"What the…"

The lake, actually the river blocked off, disappeared over the horizon. Truly disappeared. It was the edge of the Land of Lightning, and a massive waterfall was careening off the edge. But near the edge was what was startling. A glow came up from the lake, lighting the water so much it gave off a glow.

"I don't know what it is. But that is where the water is coming from."

"This is the head of the river?"

"Yeah, but that's not what is the problem, really. The problem is more along the lines of what we are to do with all this water. If we just break the dam then a surge of water is likely to destroy the entire town down river."

"True…" Shino looked a little taken aback. If he had just charged ahead and tried to destroy the dam he might have gotten himself killed and even if he had succeeded… he might have killed all the innocent people down river.

"Then what do we do? It isn't like there is some random 'let-the-water-out-slowly' valve, right? If this dam needs breaking then we need to break it."

"But Naruto…"

"I know, I know. The people. Fine. Let's just convince the dam to gradually lower… wait."

Naruto suddenly had a smile on his face. Both Hinata and Shino just stared at him. Did he really think…

"Let's go take care of those guards. Hinata, what are they doing?"

Hinata's eyes once again activated the Byakugan.

"They're… not doing anything. They appear to be on alert though. They appear… almost afraid?"

"Afraid? Well, I don't know what they're afraid of, but they will have reason enough soon." Naruto was about to walk past the tree line towards the dam when Hinata grabbed his arm.

"Wait!"

Hinata pulled him back behind the nearest tree causing Naruto to lose balance. Both tripped backwards and were once again in an awkward situation. Hinata had landed on top of Naruto and their faces were only an inch apart. Both stared into the other's eyes for a moment, not comprehending their situation.

"Do you do this often?"

Both turned their heads to see Shino with his eyebrows raised, the highest extent of emotion he ever allowed to show. Hinata and Naruto both jumped to their feet almost instantly, but instead of blushing like usual Hinata spun towards the lake again.

"Look!"

All three faced the lake where something was definitely going on. A massive wave had appeared and was heading towards the dam. It wasn't natural, that much they could tell. Something was definitely inside the wave.

"What is it?"

They were all surprised when shots seemed to be fired from the opposing shore at the wave. A lot more then four people were firing.

"The rest of the squad came back, I'm assuming."

"Right, twelve total."

They kept watching as the wave turned and headed directly away from them. It was then that they were able to see a little of what had to making the wave. A fin.

"It's the River Guardian! The Lord of the River!" Shino seemed more surprised then he had ever been in his life, as his voice actually showed emotion now. Naruto watched carefully as what he had to assume was a massive fish headed towards the other shore.

"Let's go. Now is the perfect time to strike. They'll be busy with the river thingy and we'll finish them off."

Instantly the three started running out of the trees and across the massive dam. All the while they watched as more shots were fired from the shore towards the wave and the wave continued towards the shore. Hinata had let her eyes go back to normal but she was still staring at the massive wave.

"Naruto, that fish…"

"What? When they kill it, it'll mean we have something to eat for dinner."

"They aren't going to be able to kill it."

"What?"

They were halfway across the dam when they saw the thing emerge from the water in the distance. A massive head the size of a large house exploded from the water. Even from the distance they were at they could see sparks fly across the huge body of the fish. It's head looked armored by heavy scales.

"Shit…"

They kept running as the guard across the lake fought semi-valiantly against the leviathan. Their weapons couldn't even scratch the rock hard scales coating its head, and the monster kept taking them down one by one with high powered sprays of water that were laced with electricity. The monster didn't even need flinch as shots bounced off of its body, it just took out the imperial guard like they were children throwing rocks at a great dragon of old.

"I think the dam angers it." Shino glanced at Naruto, who nodded. If the thing had any mind at all it was probably damn angry about the intrusion on its territory. It appeared semi-sentient at least.

"Naruto, Shino. It's coming."

They all stopped running as the monster fish finished off the last of the guard. It seemed to know exactly where they were as it headed towards the dam. All three got into fighting stances. Hinata's wings came out, as did Shino's. Naruto almost laughed at the irony of Shino's wings. Shino himself was a good six feet tall without the hair, and his wings were sized similarly. They were nearly translucent tan with chakra veins running through them. Each was about four feet long and thin. In short, they looked exactly like a dragonfly's wings.

_Like pet, like master I guess._

He might have laughed if it wasn't for the large wave heading their way.

"What's the plan?"

Naruto glanced at Shino. Their eyes met for a moment.

"Would it be a sacrilege to kill the Lord of the River, protector of the ocean?"

"Yes. But I value my life a little more then his."

"Good, because if we don't kill that thing before it destroys this damn dam then everyone down river is going to be dead before nightfall."

The wave grew closer. Naruto considered pulling his wires out but knew there would be very little chance of being able to get clean cut. And the electricity… that wouldn't be a smart idea at all. Instead he prepared himself for a jutsu.

"It doesn't seem fair, really. Having to fight the thing we're trying to help…"

"We're not trying to help some fish, Hinata. We're trying to hurt the imperials by getting rid of this dam." Naruto started some hand signs Hinata hadn't seen before. "So pay attention. Or this bastard will kill you."

Naruto ended a long string of hand signs before slamming his hands into the top of the dam. A huge wall of earth shot from in front of him towards the oncoming fish. The column of earth crumbled as the fish collided head on with it. With a roar it broke the surface in front of them, causing a wave to nearly sweep them off the dam. Its front fins came down on the top of the dam with a crash, barely missing Shino and Hinata, who rolled out of the way. But it seemed focused on Naruto. Naruto got a very up close view of the monster fish as it swayed in the water directly in front of him. Its head was covered in gold colored scales and looked as hard as steel. Naruto racked his brain for any idea. Before he came up with one it reared its head back and fired a lightning laced blast of electrified water from it's mouth.

Naruto quickly jumped it, running through desperate hand signs. He saw to his right and left Hinata and Shino, each too overwhelmed by the size of the thing to do anything. It wasn't like they could do anything anyway, though. Both were close range fighters, and Shino's insects couldn't land on an electric fish. It was all up to Naruto no matter how much they wanted to help.

And they knew it.

Naruto lashed out at the fish with his hands, sending a shockwave of air towards it. All three watched as the blade of air barely scratched the head of the beast.

"Shit."

The monster was about to rear its head again for another attack when out of nowhere an old style kunai flew in and hit the eye of the fish. It reared back and roared. The three looked around, trying to find the one who had thrown the kunai, but there wasn't time for a thorough search. Instead, Naruto decided to use some of his more dangerous weapons.

Naruto dodged out of the way as the massive head of the fish came down on the dam to crush him. As he flew to the side he reached into a pouch on his leg and pulled out his own kunai.

This one had a tag on it.

He quickly threw it towards the beast with all his might. His aim was just slightly off, as the kunai bounced off the hard scales near the thing's mouth.

And then exploded violently, blowing the fish to the side. It stunned the creature for a moment.

Naruto grabbed another kunai with attached explosive tag and repositioned himself. He had to hit his target this time or he would be forced to retreat ad make more explosive seals. As it was, he had only had two prepared after the one he had used breaking out of the fishing village, and they were for the most dire of circumstances.

And by the concerned look on Hinata's face next to him, he knew that this was as dire as it could probably get.

_Damn. She's like a bad luck charm. Monsters, bandits, Orochimaru, imperials, more monsters… no more peace and quiet. If I had just a speck of intelligence I would ditch this girl and her quest without a second thought._

Hinata glanced at him with her lavender eyes, more concern for his well being in them then anyone he had ever known had ever had.

_Good thing for her I lack that speck of intelligence._

The monster fish had shaken off the explosion and was now stared in anger at Naruto. It knew he was caused the explosion, and it was going to kill him for it.

Naruto charged right at it, to the surprise of both Hinata and Shino.

"Naruto!"

Naruto sprinted at top speed directly towards the opening mouth of the creature as it prepared a blast of water he would have no hope of dodging at that distance.

_One shot. Gotta make it count. _

Naruto pumped most of his chakra into his legs, racing across the dam in an instant and then jumping directly towards the mouth of the leviathan. Shino and Hinata could only watch in horror as the thing began its attack. Neither saw the knife with attached tag fly as fast as Naruto could throw it into the maw of the monster.

They just saw Naruto get hit by an electrical ball of water at point blank range. Naruto was sent flying over the edge of the dam so fast they almost didn't catch it. They did catch the small explosion where he hit the ground a hundred feet down in the river bed. They also got an up close and personal view of the Lord of the River's head exploding in a gory mess that would cause both to think twice the next time they ate fish.

Hinata didn't seem to notice the fish gore covering her as she ran to the edge of the dam and nearly jumped off. She would have, if Shino hadn't stopped her. He grabbed her arm just as she was about to try a controlled decent with her wings.

"Let go!"

"Don't. Not even a trained warrior could take a fall like that and live. You would be just as dead as he is."

Hinata pulled her arm back and shoved him back away from her. She knew he was probably right. Naruto could take a lot, but even seasoned imperial soldiers had died after one of those attacks. He had taken the attack at point blank and then been fire back hundred of feet to a rocky river bed. The chances of his surviving, even compared to the monster back in the forest, was next to nothing. But… after all they went through in the past week… how could he be gone.

It was like she had known him for her whole life. Like he had become an integral part of her life. A part that was feeling very empty…

Hinata fell to her knees. Tears ran down her cheeks. What was there to do now?

"Hinata, we need to move. Naruto accomplished our goal."

Hinata managed to move her head a little towards the carcass of the massive fish. Where it lay the dam had been severely damaged from the fish's tackle and the two explosions. A large crack had appeared, but instead of breaking the whole dam apart it looked like it had miraculously broken just enough to start the draining of the massive lake. Shino could tell that this was exactly what was needed. The river would return slowly, and then he could return with some of the Guard of Lightning to finish its destruction later.

"But… Naruto."

"His body is probably being washed down river. On our way back we will watch the banks."

Hinata silently nodded, still in shock over the loss of her bodyguard. A bodyguard who had also been a dear friend.

* * *

Naruto groaned as he woke up. His head hurt like hell, but as he moved to rub it he realized that his entire body didn't feel much better. It was dark wherever he was, thankfully. Naruto opened his eyes and took stock of his situation. He was laying on a pallet in a shack, but he was alive. He ached from what he assumed was the monster fish's last attack. That had been a mistake. He had been trying to judge the perfect time to throw and get it off before the attack, but as he threw he knew he had thrown too late. Then his memory went blank.

"So you woke up?"

Naruto noticed a dark figure sitting in the corner, barely visible at all. Naturally he was suspicious.

"Who're you?"

"A friend."

"Only a fool would believe a stranger was their friend."

"Then I'm just the person who saved your life."

"I would have been fine."

"Not even you, Naruto Uzumaki, could have survived a collision with a boulder at three hundred kilometers per hour and then drowning in the returning Celestial River."

Naruto jumped to his feet and pulled a hidden kunai from his sleeve. Instantly he was at the man's throat, the kunai ready to end the man's life. Strangely, though, he still couldn't make out who the man was in the darkness.

"Who are you?"

"I already told you."

"No, talk. You know about me, obviously. So give me a reason not to kill you."

The man in front of him smirked.

"I threw the kunai. I caught you before you hit the ground after you were nearly electrified to death. I brought you here before you drowned."

"I don't care. Who are you?"

"I'm disappointed. I would have thought comrades would remember each other. Very well then…"

Naruto watched with shock as the man in front of his dissolved into black ravens which flew off in all directions. One remained where the man had been. Naruto watched as it hopped around him and then flew onto the arm of the man who was now standing in the doorway of the shack. The man had jet black hair and eyes that Naruto swore had been red a moment ago but were now as black as his hair. He was tall, taller then Naruto, and thin.

Naruto recognized him as soon as he saw the eyes.

"Ah, I see you remember me, Naruto."

"Uchiha Itachi. I never thought we would meet again."


	10. Alone

Chapter 9: Alone

* * *

Hinata walked silently behind Shino. The once dry river bed beside them was slowly filling and becoming like the river it should have been. Trees to her right and a slowly forming river to her left.

But no Naruto.

They had already nearly reached the small fishing village that they had escaped from earlier that day and they hadn't once seen Naruto's body. At first she had run down the bank, hoping to see his body in the still mostly dry river bed or walking towards them with a smile on his face. But as they passed where they had seen him land and the waters of the river rose…

There was very little hope left in Hinata's heart.

"Lady Hinata. You must keep moving."

Hinata looked up from the ground. She had stopped walking for a moment without realizing it. She shook her head to clear it before catching up with Shino. They had decided to walk, mainly because they wanted to carefully check the banks for Naruto's body. The hover sleds were back where they had left them until Shino returned for them.

_I don't know why this is bothering me so much. When my two guards from home were killed I knew I had to move on, and I did. But something about Naruto… just won't let me get him out of my head. He was special._

_He was special to me._

_I can't stop now. I have to continue my mission. But…_

She glanced up at the sky. Just a few days ago he had saved he from falling from that sky. Twice. In an impossible show of skill that she had never seen or heard of. She owed him more then he had been hired for.

_And I was just starting to feel more comfortable around him. He was… a friend. One of the only ones I had left. Now…_

Hinata shook her head again, trying to clear her mind of her thoughts. She had to get over it fast. Light glistened off of something that flew off her face. She seemed shocked to see a tear fall to the earth.

* * *

"A dam?"

"Hai, one that was blocking the great river at its source."

Shino and Hinata had gathered the villagers of his small town to explain what had happened. It didn't take much effort because most had exited their homes armed with pitchforks when the explosions had gone off. The imperials had made a hasty retreat after collecting their dead. They had arrived to find the villagers either watching the growing river or cleaning up the wreckage of Shino's shed.

"How did you do it?"

"We broke the dam so it would slowly let out some water. We need to carefully destroy the rest later, but now isn't the time."

Shino naturally avoided telling the people about the river guardian. They would be outraged to here that it had been killed by Naruto. No one seemed to notice he was gone, but most hadn't even seen him and Hinata arrive anyway.

"What now? The Imperials dammed our river."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's grounds for war!"

The villagers were getting very angry, Shino could tell. Hinata was standing near the back of the group, staring into the sky. Shino sighed. He only knew a little of the two, but it was obvious that his loss had hit her hard. Naruto had been a good warrior, at the very least, and maybe a good man.

Shino might never know.

"Listen."

The villagers got quiet, but Shino could feel the anger and intensity in the air.

"Let's think about this. If the imperials were damming the river, with it gone… what sort of leverage do they have against the lord of lightning?"

None was the answer. Awareness was appearing on the faces of many.

"I the imperials truly want something from this land they can no longer get it through trickery. It will be done by force. Why else would the imperial patrol have not returned to the village? The imperials will attack the capital, to get what they want."

Hinata was spacing off as Shino tried to convince the villagers that evil was a foot. Her mind drifted to the pendant that hung around her neck. The pendant that Naruto had helped her retrieve.

She pulled it out from under her clothing to get a closer look at it. Time had been short recently, and even when she had stolen it there hadn't been much time to actually look at it.

One side was a weird design that didn't make much sense to her. Circles and lines that made a very interesting looking picture, but nothing compared to what was on the other side.

The front had an image Hinata found immediately beautiful and yet horrible.

The nine tailed fox.

_The Kyuubi no Kitsune. The demon lord… Is this a coincidence? What is this pendant for? What does it do?_

Hinata shuddered as she looked at the picture. The fox was crushing a mountain and forming a tidal wave. Its power was terrifying. But what startled her the most was that the fox was beautiful. You would think it would look like a monster, like most images anyone dared to make, which were few. This looked noble... it almost appeared to weep as it destroyed the world.

"Hinata-sama."

Hinata quickly placed the medallion back into her shirt. She spun to see Shino facing her. Most of the villagers looked like they were preparing for war.

"Shino-san… what is it?"

"I do not know your goals, but the men of this village are going to the capital help in case of an attack by imperials. We would gladly use your help if you were also traveling there.

Hinata stared back upriver a moment, wishing beyond all hope that a certain person would appear from the forest. But that wasn't going to happen…

"Hai. I need to speak with the Lord of Lightning anyway."

* * *

Naruto sat directly across from the man who had both saved him and was currently hosting him.

Well, hosting was a rather pleasant word for keeping him from leaving.

"Calm yourself, Naruto. I am not your enemy."

"Funny how you can say that from an imperial uniform."

Itachi Uchiha was a good looking imperial, black hair and eyes and taller then Naruto. He hardly ever smiled from what Naruto could remember, and he didn't break from tradition here.

"A formality."

"A formality? Funny, last time we met you thought differently of your uniform."

"Time changes us. Events change us, Naruto. Surely, you, of all people, can understand that."

Naruto sighed. There was no getting to this guy.

"I need to leave, Uchiha. I have a job."

"Ever the honest mercenary."

"Damn right."

"Well you can leave as soon as you are healthy."

Naruto began to stand up, but found a hand on his shoulder pushing back into his sitting position. Itachi stood above him as well in front of him.

"You are not well yet, Naruto. I can sense your chakra is incredibly low, and your nervous and muscular system are still recovering from that electrical shock."

"Cut that genjutsu out, Uchiha."

Itachi held a single hand up in a sign Naruto knew well. Instantly the Itachi above him vanished. Naruto wasn't intimidated, as many people who had met Itachi were. He knew the abilities of the so called 'imperial genius'. He was capable of keeping Naruto here if he chose to. What Naruto didn't understand was why they were in a cabin in the middle of nowhere instead of an imperial prison ship heading to his execution in the Imperial City.

"You are probably wondering why I helped you, and why I am helping you still."

"The thought had crossed my mind."

"Well, let's just say I'm returning a favor."

"I don't recall ever doing you a favor, Uchiha. As a matter of fact, I do believe last time we met it wasn't exactly under the most friendly of terms."

At this statement Naruto was shocked as the Uchiha in front of him smiled. It wasn't a happy smile, nor a sarcastic sneer.

It was filled with loss and sadness.

"You are right, Naruto Uzumaki. But you did me a great favor that day."

* * *

"_We are approaching the target site for the assault, all guardsmen prepare your gear for battle."_

_Itachi Uchiha, age 17, sat in the back of an Armored Beetle Mark III along with twenty or so other black ops members. The elite of the elite, the ones who did what was absolutely impossible, the special operations group of the Imperial Navy. Itachi was not the youngest member in the group, no, but he had been when he had been admitted at the age of fifteen. Now he was the youngest captain ranked member. Leader of twenty four of the best warriors in existence._

_And some mercenaries._

_Like a ragtag group of misfits, the front of the tank like machine, closest to the door, was reserved for a few mercenaries. The first out, the first down. That was the general consensus on mercenaries. Itachi had very little respect for the headhunters, but they did their job. Either they soaked up fire meant for his troops, or they did their part to get rid of the fire. Itachi noticed this time that it would probably be only moments before each merc was dead. Three old men with projectile rifles and a twelve year old kid with no weapons in sight._

_Itachi happened to be sitting next to the kid. He expected the kid to be shivering, afraid. Only truly desperate children ever signed up as mercs. Quick cash for those who lived through it. This one stared straight ahead, strong as steel on the outside._

"_Stop looking at me."_

_And observant._

"_Name?"_

_The child froze for a moment._

"_Uzumaki."_

"_How old are you?_

"_Thirteen."_

_Too young to die._

"_No one would hold it against you if you quit right now, kid. This isn't a job for the young."_

_The boy glared at him with such ferocity that Itachi almost drew his knife to defend himself._

"_Shut your mouth, imperial. I'm here for your money, but don't think for a moment I wouldn't fight against you if it paid half as well."_

_Itachi was stunned. This boy had balls. He seemed to vomit the name 'imperial'. _

_If he lived, he would make a good recruit._

_Itachi didn't even know where they were going this time, though. For all he knew, it was a drill assault for training. Only the general, Fugaku Uchiha, knew. Itachi's father was the special ops commander in chief, directly under the Fire Lord._

"_Alright, go, go, GO!"_

_The doors of the beetle opened with a bang and within three seconds Itachi's twenty four man team was out of the tank, ready for anything. _

_Except what they faced._

_Itachi only spared a moment to realize that the kid had disappeared._

_The general, his father, stood before them. To their right and left other teams filed out of similar tanks, nearly two hundred soldiers and at least fifteen Beetles from the smaller mark I and II all the way up to the general's personal mark IV. It took only an instant for Itachi to take all this in. A moment later an order came over his head set._

"_Captains, report."_

_With all his training, he was confused. His father and all of the tanks were facing just a small village on the edge of the great desert. A mining town with nothing special about it. A few rock buildings, a mine tunnel, and a few apartment style living quarters. Poverty that Itachi saw too often outside of the golden city._

_Itachi and the rest of the captains appeared before the general. His father looked pleased, which could mean anything, but Itachi noticed why a moment later. His father now sported two stars n his uniform, an even higher ranking._

"_I expect professionalism from all of you. This village has instigated a rebellion against the fire lord and refused to pay tribute. The lord has ordered an example made of this village. The order is complete eradication of life. The attack will commence in five minutes. Bombardment is in one hour, but that is only to demolish the town. By then all life should be gone."_

"_All life?"_

"_Men, women, children, elderly, animals, everything but the plant-life. That can be left for the bombardment."_

_Itachi had frozen in place. This couldn't be possible. It couldn't be happening. He was an imperial, trained to protect the citizens of the land of fire, not kill them!_

"_Fath… General. Surely the lord doesn't mean…"_

"_Silence! You will do what you have been ordered, captain."_

_Itachi frowned. This isn't right. His father didn't seem to care that what he was doing was against everything they swore an oath to. Against Itachi's moral code. He sprinted back to his team. They were instantly alert. He had trained them all, and they were the best. A few new recruits near the back weren't quite up to his standards, but he had hoped for more time…_

"_Orders, sir."_

_Itachi froze. What should he do? Relaying the wrong orders, or even not relaying them at all, meant court martial and possibly death. But before Itachi had to do anything, a voice spoke up from behind him._

"_Your orders are imperial standard. Kill everything, leaving nothing alive. That's what you imperials do best, right?"_

_Itachi and his team turned to see the young boy flipping a knife while leaning against the side of the tank. No one spoke, Itachi because he was stunned, his team due to their training._

"_I heard the orders, and I've heard the tale of this town. The fire lord wanted seventy percent of this town's exports, which would starve the village to death. They refused. They don't even have weapons. The fire lord has ordered the entire town wiped off the map. Just like… but that doesn't matter. I guess this really is too much for me, 'captain' Uchiha. I quit."_

_The boy caught his knife one last time before walking away from the town._

"_I have no part in this fight. Do your own slaughtering of the innocent."_

_As he left Itachi noticed him slap something onto the leg of the tank._

"_Captain, is what he said true? Are we really going to kill innocent citizens?"_

_Itachi turned to see one of his newest recruits, a young girl of sixteen with brown hair in buns._

"_Our orders are to… to eradicate…"_

_**That's what you imperials do best, right?**_

"_No. Those are our orders from the general. But my orders are different. I want to know, who will you follow? Me, or the general? If you follow the general, then join with another team immediately."_

_No one left._

"_We will all likely be court-martialed for this. I thank you anyway. Team one, sabotage all of the tanks. Teams two and three, evacuate the citizens. Head towards the desert, chances are you can reach the hidden village everyone talks about if you leave your uniform and join the refugees. They might hate imperials, but word has it that they don't kill on sight. Team one, follow them as rear guard when your job is done. Team four, you're with me. We're going to trap the entrances to the town. There is no time to talk, use your judgment,, GO!"_

_His team vanished. They were good, but they needed time._

_With him were a few of his fastest soldiers, and he sent them ahead to begin. Itachi was now all alone. Alone and damned._

_Just then, the leg of his tank exploded._

* * *

"You actually did that?"

Naruto was impressed. He had heard tales about how the town had fought back and destroyed a sizable portion of the attacking force, but thought it was propaganda against them. He had a whole new respect for the man holding him prisoner now.

"Hai. You forced me to make a choice."

"You made the right one, but I am surprised to see you alive."

Itachi sighed and frowned. He himself had been a bit surprised when the punishment given by the court had been less then death. It wasn't even a dishonorable discharge. Just demotion.

To emissary to the land of lightning.

"That doesn't matter right now."

"You're right. What really matters is what you do now. Treason has no forgiveness, and if you let me go that is exactly what you will be committing. Yet here you are, without any other imperials, after saving my life, and keeping me from doing my job."

Itachi smiled. The young man in front of him was inpatient as ever, and strong. Itachi had thrown the first kunai at the River Guardian, but Naruto had obliterated it completely. And his abilities, those advanced jutsu, resembled those of the new head of the elites, Orochimaru. Itachi himself had been trained in ninja arts by his father and a little by Orochimaru, but mainly that was chakra control exercises and controlling his bloodline.

"I owe you a great debt, Naruto. I will see it paid. As for your health, I am sure that even you can tell that you are not in peak condition. That blast injured you, and while I can see you heal quickly after waking up so soon, your body can't take infinite damage. We will wait here one more day, and leave in the morning."

"Wait a minute, did you just say 'we'?"

"Of course. Treason has no forgiveness, at least the second time for me. Your actions saved me from committing the worst atrocity I would have ever witnessed. I have no love for the fire lord, and wish to see him replaced as soon as possible. This one is vicious and is set on expansion at the cost of his people. I spied on your little group. You wish to fight against him, and so shall I."

At this, Itachi stood up and walked to the door, leaving a stunned Naruto.

"I have the hover sleds, your friends left them to look for your body. They will likely head for the capital city. Right after your explosive exit from the village, that unit received an emergency call back to Kumogakure. It is probably under attack from imperial forces as we speak."

"What? They think I'm dead? And the city is under…"

"If you want to go, then heal. We leave at first light anyway, so be prepared."

* * *

Hinata walked among the villagers in silence. None of them bothered her, and she thanked them for that. Her mind stayed fixated on one thing and one thing only. Even marching through the Cloud Passages, the main tourist attraction of the land where the roads were made among a unmoving cloud formation that was so thick one could grab the cloud and hold it in their hands, couldn't take her mind away from the upper river and the dam.

Shino marched in the lead, setting a quick pace. He knew that if the capital was under attack, it was only a matter of time before the lord would give in. Not from cowardice, of course. The Lord of Lightning was a kind ruler, and as soon as imperials found this out and took hostages… the lord would not hold out for long. Time was of the essence. Every so often he glanced back at the young woman he had just met that day. She walked as quick as any of his men, but her head was down and he could tell why.

He couldn't see how anyone could ever manage to enjoy the company of the blond haired man, but apparently she did. Shino had to admit that around the girl, Naruto Uzumaki had acted much differently then Shino had ever seen him act, or suspect he was capable of acting. Uzumaki had actually cared about that girl's life. And she cared a lot about his, more then Shino thought was usual of an employer/employee relationship. His death was taking her hard, but she went on. Shino admired that strength.

"Shino! Shino!"

Shino spun to the front. They were only a few miles from the city, and it should have come into view over the next hill. Running down it were two men he had sent ahead as scouts.

"Shino! The city! It's on fire!"

"And a tank, an imperial tank is blocking the road with about twenty imperials with it!"

Instantly everyone in their makeshift army sprinted to the top of the hill. The sight that they took in was not one of their beloved capital shining in the moonlight. It was of buildings, broken and burning, with the air filled not with the beautiful clouds of Kumo, but with black smoke. The sounds of explosions and weapon discharges echoed from the city to their overlook. The skies also contained troop carriers of the imperials. Airships each capable of holding hundreds of troops, over a dozen tanks, and capable of providing air support. Below them, at the entrance gate to the capital, was a Iron Beetle Mark II, one of the oldest tanks in service to the empire. Shino was grateful for that, but knew that it was still going to be a problem. It had energy cannons still, cannons capable of turning his army of men with pitchforks and a few projectile weapons into nothing more then ash.

"Shino, I can take the tank. Hold the men back until…"

Shino had only just managed to recognize the voice of the speaker as Hinata when the tank he was watching, still over a quarter mile away, rotated its cannons in their direction. And fired.

A massive explosion blew the top of the hill away, along with a few of his men.

"Everyone get back, behind the hill!"

Not wanting to be the next targets, his men listened and obeyed. Then three men caught in the explosion were lucky, they had just had the wind knocked out of them. Shino took a quick check for everyone.

Hinata was gone.

* * *

Hinata's wings were out as she pumped chakra into her legs. The tank and its guard were still too far away. She was at the bottom of the hill, running full speed towards the tank.

400 meters.

_This is just like training. I can do this._

A simple tank, coated in gold-bronze alloy, it slightly resembled the animal it was named after. A long body with six legs, each leg ending in a wide foot. Its front tapered down to look like the front of a chisel, while the back was thicker to allow for transporting troops. It was slow, pondering, and worthless except on hard, flat, ground. But that wasn't an issue here. It _was _on flat, hard ground. And it also held one of the strongest weapons in all the nations. The cannon. It fired energy through some science Hinata was not familiar with. Off either side of the nose of the tank were cannons capable of blowing her apart with one blow. Hinata watched the twin energy cannons of the tank rotate from the hill top to draw a bead on her.

300 meters.

_Still too far, I need to get closer._

She had only a moment to get out of the way of an exceptional gunners targeting reticule as she saw energy gather for only an instant at the end of the cannon's barrels.

She jumped.

Her wings gave her that extra boost she had needed. She was lucky. The ground she had been about to run on exploded beneath her, sending her flying out of control. She barely managed a rolling landing.

_That… was too close._

She was up and running instantly. The one good thing about energy weapons, like those used by imperials, was they took much longer to fire then other weapons. One shot every four seconds for hand weapons, more time was needed for the larger ones.

200 meters.

Hinata could see the men around the tank pointing at her and getting in firing positions. Most lay on the ground or took cover around the tank, but stayed careful of the tanks legs. There was no telling with the pilot of the tank would decide to move.

The cannons were following her every move. Hinata kept her eyes on the barrels.

100 meters.

_Now I'm close enough._

Hinata planted her feet and stopped her charge moments before she saw the energy building at the end of the cannons.

And she began to spin.

Her whole plan required the gunner of the tank to aim directly at her, and not at the ground around her.

"Kaiten!"

* * *

Shino had crept back up to the top of the hill as soon as he had realized exactly what Hinata had been talking about. He watched from cover as she made it safely down the hill at incredible speeds and started across the field around the main road. He flinched as she barely missed the first shot. When she stopped running altogether, though, he stood up. She was going to die, he knew it, and if she did it would be as if he had failed. Who, or how he had failed he did not know. But inside his mind he knew that if Hinata died here he would never forgive himself.

"Charge!"

His men, loyal to the lord and naïve in the ways of war, obediently followed. The men, fifty some strong, poured over the hill sprinting at top speed. Shino extended his wings, as did anyone else in his small army that could, and he ran as fast as he could.

But he saw it would be too late.

The cannons were about to fire and Hinata wasn't moving. No… wait… she was…

Spinning?

"Kaiten!"

Shino watched as beams of light converged towards Hinata, who now was spinning in a blue ball of charka. One beam missed entirely, but the other scored a direct hit. The blue ball that was Hinata was sent tumbling along the ground back towards him. The beam, on the other hand, was returned to the sender.

Shino watched in fascination and joy as less then a second latter the Beetle was hit a glancing blow by its own attack. An explosion tore off two of the port side legs, toppling the tank to the side. The shrapnel ripped through the guards like they were butter, only a few were left to stand against the small wave of towns people.

Shino quickly approached where he had seen Hinata hit ground, only to find not her dead, broken body, but a conscious Hinata. Granted, she looked dazed and was barely sitting up, but that was infinitely better then dead. Shino ran over and knelt beside her to help her up.

"Hinata-san! Are you alright, is anything broken?"

"No…" Hinata shook her head and got to her feet, stumbled, then regained balance. "I should be ok. But remind me to never do that again. I think I've learned the limits of the Kaiten."

Shino sighed. It was no wonder Uzumaki died. This girl was trouble.

* * *

Shino quickly regrouped his men, who had set up a vague perimeter around the city gate, and equipped his men with the imperial weapons and who ever fit into the little undamaged body armor. Some he dressed completely in uniform and placed at the gate to offer his men a little more time. The imperials would soon know about his ragtag group, but every moment they had to prepare was one more moment his men weren't dying. His men hadn't slept all night, and they needed rest. Most of the guard would likely also be resting. No one attacked at night, especially the imperials. No one wanted to shoot a friend in the dark.

Hinata still seemed to be recovering as she sat against the city wall, shaking the dizziness out of her head. Shino wanted to go and talk to her, thank her for her bravery, but knew that it wasn't something she needed or probably wanted to hear. Her eyes hadn't changed. She still had the blond haired man on her mind.

Come first light, they would hopefully sneak into the city and get to the castle that was the home of the Lord of Lightning. Then… Shino had no clue what to do. But that as where it would come to a head. And he needed to be there to defend his home.

_It must be morning by now._

Naruto opened his eyes and looked towards the window.

Still black.

_Kuso!_

He really was tempted to try his luck against the Spec Ops Ex-captain, but he knew that even if he won it would likely wound him more. And the Uchiha seemed willing to help…

_Just on his time-table._

Naruto once again flexed his muscles. Up until a few hours ago he could still feel the effects of the electricity. His muscles would spasm and twitch as he flexed them. Now there was only a dull ache, nothing worse then he would get from running long distances or a tough day training.

_Come on! I need to go. Hinata is likely in trouble, with her record, and only the Aburame is around to protect her!_

Naruto sat up from the mat he had been given to rest on. No pain. He needed to go now! If Hinata was heading to an imperial occupied city he needed to be there to make sure she didn't get caught.

"Naruto."

Instantly, Naruto was on his feet. Itachi was behind him, wearing a cloak of black that covered all his features. He threw one to Naruto.

"Put it on. I can see you have recovered from the shock, amazingly quickly I might add."

"No more interesting then how you are able to see electrical damage to my body with those eyes of yours, Uchiha."

Naruto could barely see Itachi smile from under the hood of the cloak.

"True. You may call me Itachi, if you chose, Naruto. The hover sleds are right out back. We'll take the river straight towards the capital, but break off before reaching it." Naruto was already moving towards the door.

"Why break off? We want the quickest route."

"Hai, if you want to hit a few hundred imperial soldiers. We will break off so we can avoid the obvious guard around the river."

Naruto had reached one of the sleds and had thrown the black cloak over his clothing and his blond hair.

"Alright then, genius, what then?"

"Climb the wall, cause some damage, get between them and the lord."

Itachi was on his own sled ready to move. Naruto started his own which lifted into the air a few feet. Itachi was right behind him.

"Alright then, Itachi. I'll let you lead, but just this once."

"Agreed."

The morning would bring many more surprises.


	11. Assault

Chapter 10: Assault

* * *

Dawn rose silently over the capital of the Land of Lightning. The fighting that had stopped for the night would start as soon as the sun crossed over the horizon, but with just the barest glimpses of gray coming into the sky no one was quite ready to restart the bloodshed. Only a small group of men moved silently through the silent and mostly dark alleyways, avoiding the large battalions of imperial troops.

Shino held up his hand, instantly the men behind him stopped moving. Their rather large group had split up, with Shino in the lead of one group that was heading for the Lord's fortress. The other group, led by another villager, was going to attempt to hold the gate as a retreat option. In reality, Shino had just told them to hold the gate because every member of that group either had children or was expecting. His group was made of world weary, tough, fishermen. The kind he could count on in a fight and who knew their time was coming anyway. The rear of the group was being brought up by the silent Hinata, who was all professional.

Shino peered around the corner and was instantly glad he had stopped.

A large squad of over a couple dozen imperials and an Iron Beetle Mark III were in the next open courtyard area. All were getting geared up, they looked like they were about to start the next attack.

"Shit."

Shino backed back around the corner and resisted sliding into a seated position.

_This is not good. We always just barely avoided the troops on our way in. We're over halfway there, probably near their frontlines. But now this. There isn't any alley around them. It's either through them or not at all. Even a sudden surprise attack would only delay the inevitable. When that tank comes into play we're all going to die. One shot from its cannons would destroy these buildings around us._

"Shino."

Shino turned. Hinata had moved up and was next to him. Once again, the veins around her eyes were much more pronounced. Her eyes had that intensity that couldn't be explained.

"I'll distract them. I'll lure them away. You should be able to reach the bridge to the fortress without running into any more if I lure these men and the tank away."

Shino just stared at the girl from behind his glasses. He knew that what she was proposing was outright suicide. There was no way a single human, even one capable of surviving one hit from a tank, would ever stand a chance against a group this large.

"No, we'll do it a different way."

"There isn't another way and we are running out of time. If you want to get to that fortress by dawn, you need me to do this."

Shino instantly knew that what the girl said was true. If he didn't get past this group in minutes, they would be found, trapped, and killed. He didn't want to sacrifice someone for his goals, but…

It really was the only way.

"Fine. Go. I hope to see you again."

The girl that had been completely sober since her friend's death smiled sadly at him before nodding. Her wings came forth from her back.

"I hope so too."

Her wings flipped silently as she ran up the nearest wall and disappeared onto the roof of the building. Shino waited a few seconds for her distraction, motioning for his men to get ready.

Her distraction was actually very good.

The men in the courtyard were half asleep and packing up their gear, not thinking once that they would be attacked. They were proven wrong when figure fell into their midst, softly smacking two of them in their chests. It took the soldiers a few moments to realize that the intruder was only a young woman, and also that the two men she had slightly touched had just collapsed and coughed up blood. In those few seconds she had begun to run away from Shino's path and towards the tank. The soldiers were soon free of their shock and were firing after her, many drawing their brutal scimitars to give chase.

No one noticed Shino's men softly sprint along the other side of the courtyard, towards the castle.

Shino ran, making sure all his men made it without being spotted. He barely saw Hinata disappear down a side road with most of the soldiers either chasing her or loading into the tank. With one last glace he returned to lead his men.

The rest of the journey was mostly uneventful. The soldiers had been the front line for the attackers, and his group easily made it to the stone bridge to the castle. The gate was shut, but he recognized a face in one of the watch towers.

"Quick, open the gate. Aburame Shino and others are here to reinforce."

He was lucky that the men inside recognized him and immediately opened the gate, allowing him and his men into the grand hall. As they passed the gate, Shino could hear cannon fire from the city in the direction he had left Hinata. One of his men turned to face him with a tired look on his face.

"I hope she's alright, sir."

Shino just nodded and kept walking. Soon the gate closed behind him. He ordered his men to find stations for battle and walked towards where he knew the Lord would be.

Right in the middle of the main hall. Exactly where he was not supposed to be.

"Shino? Is that Aburame Shino I see?"

"My Lord."

Shino went down on one knee. Before him stood a man well past his prime. His white hair came down to his lower back. He was robed in the garb of a warrior currently, not the Lord he was. He even had his face painted for war in a much outdated style.

"I've told you, Shino. One of my personal guards can call me Jiraiya."

"My Lord, why are you here? You should be in the throne room."

Jiraiya frowned. He had been all smiles when he saw Shino and his men enter.

"You are young, Shino, and loyal. Listen when I say, we are running out of men. I am no safer there than here, and as you all well know I am fully capable, even at my age, to defend myself."

Shino knew all too well that what the Lord said was true. He was looking at a living legend of the Lightning Country. The man had defeated a hoard of poison frogs single handedly. It was said that he befriended them after, but no one knew for sure. He had defended and protected the people of Lightning better and with more compassion than any ruler previous, and as such he was loved by his subjects. Sure, he had some notorious… faults, but then again so did most people.

"Hai."

"Now, please explain…"

"My Lord! A single man has approached the palace gate under the flag of truce!"

Shino stepped back and fell in behind the Lord of Lightning as he swept past the guard and went towards the gate.

"My Lord, as we snuck through their lines we noticed that they were preparing to attack. I don't think that this will be anything more than a call to surrender." Shino followed closely behind Jiraiya as they moved through the makeshift defenses around the main gate. The white haired man was grim but determined.

"No… that is not the only thing they would try. It might also be an assassin."

"Then why are we approaching him."

"Because we don't have much choice. At the very least it provides our men more time to rest and prepare our defenses."

"At what cost."

The man smiled a bit and turned to Shino. They had reached the gate and at the Lord's command it slowly opened outward.

"At no cost, I hope."

As the gates opened they were able to see the caped man walking across the bridge towards them flanked by a man with a white flag. The man was surprisingly very young, younger than even Shino, with black hair and eyes. His uniform showed that, despite his age, he was of a high rank and most likely close to being in charge. The black haired man approached the king but was stopped from getting too close by Shino stepping between them.

"State your business, imperial scum."

"I did not come to discuss anything with hired help."

Shino was forced to remember that he was not in the uniform of the guard. He wasn't even supposed to be here. Before he could say anything more, though, and likely cause diplomacy to break down before it began, Jiraiya stepped forward around him.

"No, you did not. Apparently you came to forcefully usurp my rule."  
The black haired boy sneered at the lord.

"Not at all, _Lord_ Jiraiya. We came here to merely… ensure your support of the Golden Empire, and to gather tithes to the Lord of Fire."

The utter disdain in his voice when addressing Jiraiya almost caused Shino to release his entire swarm at the bastard. It turned out to not be necessary.

The Lord of Lightning smirked at the boy.

"Very well. You can remove your troops from my city. Have no fear, I will be draining the septic waste and shipping it, post haste, to the Golden City as tribute. And you can be sure that my forces will support yours in battle, when your men are impaled on the ends of their pikes. Now, young _boy,_ perhaps you have forgotten exactly how to negotiate. I believe your name would be appreciated… at least so when you die we will know who to send it to instead of throwing your body in the gutter."

Both the messenger and Shino were forced to step back from the Jiraiya as sheer killing intent flooded out of him even as the lord smiled a sinister polite smile. The common soldiers around the hall stumbled away and a one vomited from the intensity. The messenger looked slightly worried for a moment before he regained control of his emotions.

"Captain Uchiha Sasuke, 1st ANBU squad."

"That's better, Captain. This is Aburame Shino, one of my trusted citizens."

Shino was content to just let his hive buzz. ANBU squad? This boy did not appear to be black ops. Maybe if they lowered their standards a lot…

"What are your demands, exactly?"

Sasuke Uchiha frowned. He seemed to be realizing that he might be in over his head, but Shino couldn't be sure the way he still seemed at least a little confident in his stance.

"You will peacefully surrender yourself to our army and then be taken to the Golden City for… safe keeping. Your country will be occupied by our troops for the foreseeable future."

Jiraiya was not smiling.

"And what, pray tell, does your benevolent Lord offer in return?"

"Your lives. We will not kill any who do not oppose this… change of control."

Jiraiya stayed silent for a moment. Shino could only pray that his lord was not considering such a ludicrous offer.

The lord looked ready to speak when large explosions started sounding from beyond the gates in the city. Large explosions that seemed to be getting closer with each strike. Shino was about to attack the emissary before he noticed that the enemy in their midst looked about as surprised as the rest of them.

"It was not by my order."

"Well its got about ten seconds to stop before we end these negotiations the hard way."

At the lord's comment the Uchiha tensed. Shino was slightly disappointed that the negotiator was so bad at concealing his intentions. But before he was given a reason to vent his anger on the young military commander the explosions stopped.

"Well, glad that's…"

Before Jiraiya could finish his exclamation of relief a man dropped to the ground just a few feet behind his current 'guest'. The man was dressed all in black, with shoulder length black hair and black eyes. If it had been up to Jiraiya he might have thought the man was a relative of the one directly in front of him.

The man hadn't made a sound, but Sasuke Uchiha followed Shino's and Jiraiya's eyes a quickly spun to face the newcomer. Then he froze. Instantly Shino was forced to change his opinion of the young man. He went from appearing like a simple negotiator with next to no combat experience to a killer. His stance instantly became that of one ready to attack. His back was to Shino but Shino could feel the power radiating off him. It was comparable, but not equal, to that the Lord had given off just moments before. Shino was about to step in when the newcomer stood up to his full height and smirked at the Uchiha.

"Sasuke."

"Itachi."

At that moment an explosion that dwarfed the others occurred above the city, shaking the very foundations of the castle.

At that moment Sasuke attacked.

* * *

Hinata knew it was a bad idea. Hell… heck, she knew it was a down right stupid idea. But Shino's men would never make it through those troops, especially if they got that tank activated. And, unlike Naruto, she didn't have any explosives.

"There isn't another way and we are running out of time. If you want to get to that fortress by dawn, you need me to do this."

The older man stared at her through his opaque sun glasses. Why did he wear those even at night? Something about the insects, maybe?

"Fine. Go. I hope to see you again."

Hinata smiled. Shino might have only been a day or two old friend, but there was a definite bond there. A bond that could only be formed by fighting together against great odds. The same bond fellow soldiers form. It was nice, but it wasn't like what she had had with Naruto…

"I hope so too."

Her training and instinct allowed her to extend her wings and with a few silent steps ascend to the top of the building next to her. On the top of the building was a single sleepy guard. That was one more guard than Hinata had thought was on top of the building. In one moment their eyes met only feet apart, showing Hinata that he was just as surprised, if not more so, to see her as she was to see him. In the next moment the soldier had foreign chakra destroying his central nervous system. Hinata slammed her chakra filled palm into the guard's face, using her momentum from coming up the wall to force him onto his back, smashing his head into the rooftop.

Hinata stood up from where she was kneeling on top of the dead guard and shook her hand to get the small amount of blood from the man's nose off.

He still looked frightened. He couldn't have been much older than she was…

Hinata shook her head to clear it. She wasn't a murderer. She wasn't that much of a fighter compared to Shino or Naruto. But this was war… with whom she still did not know. She gently reached down and closed the man's eyes.

"Sorry, but I had no choice…"

She quickly spun to view the clearing filled with soldiers and planned her distraction. There were only a few ways out of the town square that would fit the tank, only a couple of those were away from the castle. She needed that tank away from Shino's group, or even if every soldier but one followed her it would be futile.

Only one way to make it follow her…

She jumped directly into the group of soldiers still packing, using her wings to slow her fall.

_Now let's see if I can do this._

As she hit the ground she struck two stunned soldiers in the heart.

_Two down, over thirty to go._

It didn't take a second for the rest to notice. But by then she was sprinting towards the tank. She dodged a soldier by vaulting over the charging man's head, giving it a firm kick to keep him down. A second pulled his sword instead of his gun and swung horizontally, which she slid under, making sure the man could never move his knee again as she passed. By then the ones behind her were either chasing after her or picking careful shots to try to not hit the other soldiers still around her. A few in a different style of uniform, less armor, were sprinting towards the tank. She would never make it in time.

_Good thing that isn't the plan._

Hinata ran under the tank just as the top hatch to the control center swung shut. Instead she ran directly towards the nearest road large enough to fit the tank. The tank got fired up very fast and turned to give pursuit as soldiers piled into the read transport area. A few still came after her on foot, freely shooting as she cleared the rest of the soldiers, dropping more than a few who thought they had a chance in hand to hand combat.

She ran, zigzagging back and forth to dodge bolts of energy that would certainly kill her if she was hit anywhere besides a limb, which would slow her enough for them to kill her.

Hinata turned back to see that the tank was definitely following her. They hadn't noticed Shino's group.

Good.

Instead of continuing on the road she sprinted up the nearest wall to get to the rooftops. Just as she cleared the top she heard the sound of the Iron Beetle's main cannon charging up.

She didn't stop running, instead she ran over the roof and jumped to the next one down the street. She was barely able to leave the first roof as the entire top of it exploded, throwing her to the rooftop of the next house and almost causing her to pass out. She had to blink her eyes and lay still on the roof to hold off the black on the edge of her vision. A few moments later she was back on her feet. She ran to the edge of the rooftop to make sure the tank saw her again. Some of the men on the ground did and started shooting again.

And the race was on again.

Hinata jumped down to the ground in the next alleyway and quickly circled around the exploded house and into the alley nearest the tank. It was deceptively quick for a tank with six legs, and was making good time down the street. As the soldiers in front of it started to pass her hiding place in the shadows of the alley she contemplated her next move.

_I might be able to get to the castle now, but that isn't going to help anyone that much. It would probably be best to take down as many as I can. Hopefully I can draw even more attention away from the castle and help out that way. Now, about this tank…_

Hinata didn't use weapons, and there was no way into the tank unless someone opened it from the inside. In other words, to kill the tank she needed to get them to get out of the tank.

The tank and soldiers had just passed by her hiding place so she sneaked out and silently tapped the back two soldiers in the head. They fell silently to the ground, dead.

She then jumped to the top of the tank, landing as quiet as possible to avoid the detection of those in the tank and those around. It wasn't hard when they were still firing at the rooftops at anything that moved. She quickly ran up to the forward hatch and knocked on it.

She just knocked.

And a door was opened.

Then soldier looked at her stunned until she closed his eyes permanently. She was instantly down the hatch and before the pilot and gunner of the tank could even turn to face her she had knocked both into the next world. The tank instantly stopped. Hinata knew she would be having visitors soon, soldiers come to see what was the problem was, but she wanted to do one thing first.

She pushed the gunner out of his chair and moved the target on his screen towards the ground where she saw all of the soldiers looking at the stopped tank.

And then she pressed the big red button that said fire.

She jumped up and then out of the still open hatch as the cannons charged. With one wing aided leap she went from the top of the tank to the top of the nearest building.

She turned just in time to see all of the soldiers on the ground, the ground, and the tank explode. What she didn't see when she was in the tank was that the cannon was sighted for 100 yards, not ten. When she aimed at the area immediately in front of the tank the cannons aimed into the ground. The tips had been forced into the street by the powerful hydraulics of the aiming system. The cannon fired, but the energy had nowhere to go. So it went everywhere.

The explosion forced Hinata to fall back to avoid the flaming pieces of tank and soldier that went flying.

When the secondary explosions had died down Hinata observed her handiwork. It was a total kill, no survivors. She turned and ran over the next building towards the castle. She needed to thin the ranks, and now she knew at least one way to do it.

* * *

Hinata had been hopping rooftops for a few minutes trying to find some more targets, but had not had any luck. She was getting pretty close to the palace when she heard explosions coming from across the city. It startled her to hear shots being taken not at her or the castle that was supposed to be the thing under siege. She stopped on the next roof to see that near the city's center what had to be at least five or six tanks were firing into the air, some hitting building tops but most going into the sky to dissipate.

"Byakugan!"

Hinata could see that the massive energy surges were being aimed at a single man with unfamiliar chakra using something similar to a hoversled to fly over the rooftops towards the castle. As he passed over new groups of soldiers he must have aroused the entire Imperial army because not five seconds went by without a building exploding because a missed cannon shot would hit an unintended target.

Hinata started jumping towards the area that obviously had the majority of the Imperial Army.

_Who is that? Maybe it's someone like Shino just trying to get to the castle to help. But why would he take that path? There are many holes in the lines earlier on. He's drawing unnecessary attention to himself. _

As she ran she noticed that the man on the hoversled was doing a very good job of dodging, much better than any normal man would be able to do.

_It's almost like he can predict where the shots are going to go._

But the man's luck was about to run out. One of the massive troop carriers was starting to bear down on him from the direction of the palace. The airship might not have been even comparable in size to the _Hokage_, it was large enough that even if it didn't have men firing weapons out of small openings in the hull, it could just run him down and take next to no damage. It resembled what most Imperial airships looked like, slightly long mechanical flying ovals.

Hinata was getting pretty close to where the fight was about to be. She could now see that the man was dressed all in black and had black hair. He was at least a few years older than her, probably more than a few. It was then that she noticed that the troop carrier was very close.

And she was on the rooftop.

With that thought she jumped for the nearest alley, hoping that they hadn't seen her. No barrage of energy weapons and explosives rained down into her dark alley, so she assumed she was probably fine. But now she had no chance to get a ride with the man to the castle.

Hinata peered around the corner of the alley and into the main road to see that the man in black had changed tactics. He had been travelling pretty slow for a hoversled, spending most of his energy on dodging. Now that the airship was so close he had put the sled into top gear, shooting down the street faster than Hinata thought healthy. As he passed her hiding spot he turned his head towards her.

His eyes were red.

Hinata was slightly shocked by the instantaneous glimpse she had gotten as the man had passed. He shouldn't have been able to see her at that speed, let alone take notice of her. And his red eyes.

She didn't get any more time to actually think about it because around a bend in the street behind her two Mark III tanks were charging cannons as the moved into position. Hinata quickly ducked back into the alley as the four beams of light shot down the street.

_One tank is reasonable, but two tanks? And they likely have ground troops coming as well. I could try a Kaiten, but it's a one shot thing. If I miss either tank on the first shot I'll most likely be knocked out until they can fire again. What can I do?_

The airship that had been trying to block the way of the hoversled had overshot its target when the man had gone into top speed. It was now passing over her, casting a large shadow over the area.

And then it exploded.

The world shook. She was knocked flat on her back from the concussion and her ears were ringing. The airship above her now had a huge gaping hole in its side that was spewing flames.

"What on earth?"

"Sorry, that was me."

* * *

Itachi Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki had arrived at the capital just as the sun had started going up, turning the dark sky in the east a lighter grey with the smoke from the city. They were on a hill near the city peering through a field glass Itachi had brought.

"Pretty decent formation, I don't see a very good way to get in. No way without a few soldiers, at least."

"No roofs, those troop carriers are fast and strong."

"Right. We need to get to the castle. The army hasn't gotten there, it's probably the only part of the city that is still under the Lightning Lord's control. If your friends are alive, then they will also be heading there."  
"What good will that be? The enemy is out here, not in there. We should flank them, attack from both sides."

"And how would the Lord know to do that?"

Naruto sighed. He was getting a little angry sitting on a hill outside of town when they had already been here for half hour.

"Then we split up. You go to the castle and organize a resistance and I'll raise hell out here. I'll start with those troop carriers. Once they are down the bastards won't have air support and we'll be on even ground."

Itachi stared at the blond haired man pacing in front of him. He had a point, but Naruto wasn't an army. He wasn't even a team. He was one ninja. A very dangerous ninja, but a single ninja all the same. But… if he could take down even one of the troop carriers it would change the entire flow of the siege.

"Alright, let's do it. I'll head towards the castle on a hoversled and draw their fire. You sneak in first and get on that ship. Take it out and I'll get the soldiers in the castle to attack."

Itachi watched the man in front of him smirk.

"That's the second time you've taken my advice."

"Don't get used to it. You'll be disappointed otherwise."

* * *

Itachi waited a few minutes for Naruto to get a head start into the city before he decided to get ready. It wasn't exactly a great plan, but sometimes it isn't always best to stick to the plan. Itachi took a few moments to focus his chakra. Two black raven wings appeared billowing like smoke from beneath his cloak, making the man look positively intimidating against the rising sun.

He quickly made mental note of his equipment.

Cloak? Check.

Hoversled? Check.

Kunai? Check.

Sword?

Itachi mentally shook his head and smiled. It was habit to check for his sword, but the sword was an officer's weapon, one that was taken from him long ago. To carry a sword required honor, and Itachi knew that the kind of honor that was required of him was not the kind he was willing to give.

"Sharingan."

Itachi's wings receded into his back as he stopped actively focusing his chakra. Once black eyes now stared at the city, now red with three black tamoe circling each pupil. His eye sight went from being slightly below average to that of any eagle, perfect. His eyes as they were now would be able to comprehend anything, especially chakra.

He got on the hoversled and started it up. The high pitched whine of whatever science caused it to work broke the early morning silence as Itachi took a deep breath and headed into the city on a meandering path to the castle.

He had only gotten a small way into the city when he was noticed. And, luckily, it appeared that the large group of men, one of which was now dead with a kunai in his head, had been a command post and now all the enemies between him and the castle were waiting for him. Still, it was child's play to anticipate their shots and just barely dodge. Cannon blasts tore apart the rooftops of the buildings he flew past at only about half speed, and smaller shots from the side arms of the troops peppered the air around him.

But it was like trying to hit someone who knew exactly where you were aiming and where your next shot was going to go after that one as well.

Sadly, after only a few minutes of distraction, his time was running out. One of the massive troop carriers was bearing down on him from the front. Itachi wasn't going to have much of a hope with that one, a simple kunai wouldn't help him here. As he prepared to kick his speed up to full he noticed a small figure on the rooftop to his left. The figure almost seemed to sense his view and jumped into a nearby alley, but Itachi was able to discern that it had been the carrier the figure had been looking at more than him.

He threw the sled into max speed, dropping altitude to get around the troop carrier. He passed the hiding spot of the figure and glanced to make sure no surprise attack was coming. He was only slightly surprised to find that the figure had been the girl that had been travelling with Naruto previous to Naruto's near death.

_Maybe she will find him during the battle. Naruto will be pissed if she dies._

He sped by, nearing the castle by now, dodging the last few shots from the Iron Beetles in his last run up to the castle. He knew there was no way the gate was going to be open, so as he approached he increased his altitude sharply and fired up to the castle's roof directly above the gate.

Itachi dropped off the sled, letting it shoot into the sky as he dropped calmly to his feet on the castle's roof.

He smirked.

_Didn't even need wings._

Itachi walked to the edge of the roof and noticed a small window a few feet down. With a grab and a swing he was through the window.

And he instantly regretted it.

With the sharingan active he could instantly notice everything in the room. Including the man he was about to land directly behind. _This is unexpected…_

Itachi landed with hardly a sound and stood to face the Aburame, the Lord of Lightning, and Sasuke Uchiha.

"Sasuke."

The elder Uchiha inwardly grimaced. He had nothing against this boy, but it was obvious that the opposite wasn't true from the look of sheer hatred and anger on the other Uchiha's face.

"Itachi."

And then the world shook.

* * *

Naruto was not a ninja in name only.

Very few people are capable of true stealth. Being able to silently kill or, better yet, evade detection all together, was a rare ability. Naruto, though, had that ability in spades when he wanted to use it. And he currently wanted to.

Naruto stuck to the early morning shadows as he quickly and quietly penetrated the capital city of the Land of Lightning. No matter how elite the soldiers between him and his target, they were still mere soldiers and incapable detecting Naruto's shadow as he sprinted down alleys and abandoned streets. Yet even as he remained undetected his outlook began to turn bleak.

_This is not good. I underestimated the amount of firepower in the city. There must be a battalion of Iron Beetles and a few thousand men. My plan is not going to work very well if Itachi doesn't get the castle to attack with everything they have the moment this ship goes down._

As Naruto was thinking and running he turned a corner and immediately dove into a doorway. A trio of soldiers were beginning a morning patrol he assumed, or delivering messages. Either way they were jogging down his street. He prepared a kunai as he stood unnoticed in the shadowed doorway. But just before he would have jumped out and attempted a silent kill on three targets, not an easy job, he was grabbed from behind and pulled through the door which shut instantly afterwards.

A grab and a spin later and Naruto was kneeling on the chest of a shocked and frightened man with his knife to the man's throat.

"Easy,stranger. You aren't Imperial, and we aren't either."

Naruto stared at the man and then around the room. He had obviously been pulled into this man's small home. Across the room there was a woman and a small girl, both of which appeared to be frightened out of their minds. The man's wife and daughter he assumed.

Naruto quickly put the knife away and helped the man up to the relief of everyone there.

"Gomen. Can't be too careful around here."

"We know. The imps have a form of martial law on the town. If you are seen, you are shot. So far they haven't started entering buildings, except those around the few main roads. Those they emptied."

"That's good to know. But I must run…"

"What are you going to do?"

Naruto looked at the man and then to the man's wife and child. The child had asked the question. He could tell she was trying to look brave. They weren't terrified anymore, but there was still fear in their eyes. Fear of the army on their doorstep.

"I'm going to get rid of the pests outside. Stay here and pray, that might help."

"Which god should we pray to?"

Naruto shook his head as he walked towards a window he noticed opened into an alleyway and opened it.

"Doesn't matter, I think if there are any out there they'll hear ya no matter what name you call them."

And with that he was out the window.

A short time later he found himself under the shadow of one of the massive troop carriers. The flying machine wasn't the size of the Hokage, but there was enough firepower on the thing to cause serious damage to any ground force the castle put out even if it was already empty. He honestly hoped it was mostly full, than there would be more to explode. It was quite a distance off the ground, a few hundred feet at least above the roofs, but at this point it was refueling the tanks and dropping ammo for the ground troops via long cables. Naruto went right into the supply station, using the shadows and the natural chaos of the refueling to climb into one of the large refueling lines as it was about to be coiled back into the ship. There were a few close calls when he had been seen out of the corner of someone's eye but after maintaining absolute stillness they went back to work. It wasn't hard for Naruto to hang onto the fueling line as it was raised. When he was almost to the top Naruto noticed that the airship had begun to move.

_Itachi is moving. I need to bring this thing down._

When it was fully drawn in Naruto exited quietly to find himself in a large refueling station. Only a few workers were walking around completely oblivious to the one now in their midst. Large cylinders filled with fuel were evenly spread throughout the large room, each its own giant bomb.

Now if he only had something to set it off.

Naruto quickly ran full speed to the nearest worker. The man had just enough time to look up from his work and give a small shout before Naruto had penetrated his heart with a kunai. He kept running towards a small compartment that had some controls in it. If he was going to blow this thing up he was going to be able to do it here.

Two more men had seen him and were running towards him and one was in the booth, but they were mere workers against a ninja. They might as well have been mosquitos to an elephant. All were on the ground moments later as Naruto looked at the controls and quickly decided the best solution was… to throw every lever into the full on position except the release valves. Naruto instantly saw gauges across the controls go into the red and alarms started going off.

"Yeah, that will probably work."

Naruto stabbed one kunai into the controls to make sure no one would change his "fixes" and then sprinted for one of the smaller rope sized cables used to guide the large refueling tubes. With a grab and a leap he was in the air falling towards the ground.

Really fast.

He was about to think it was a bad idea to grab this cable when he felt a little more tension on the line and he was falling slower. The line continued to descend but slower and slower as it reached its full length. And then, with a jerk, the line stopped. And then Naruto was thrown off the cable as the air ship above him lit up the sky with flames.

He was a little shocked that it took so little time to blow the ship apart, but he was slightly more shocked that he had just been nearly imbedded into the wall of an alley.

And even more shocked to find that as he pulled himself out of the wall, the one person he really wanted to see was starting to get up almost ten feet in front of him.

"What on earth?"

"Sorry, that was me."

The girl with strange eyes spun towards Naruto in a fighting stance, but dropped it a moment later in shock from seeing the boy she had been certain was dead.

"N… Naruto?"

"In the flesh."


End file.
